Advance directives

There is significant confusion about the topic of advance directives (ADs), stimulated by the increasing realization that the current AD instruments probably have little salutary clinical effect. The instruments themselves are almost certainly part of the problem. In most cases they are too simple and narrowly focused, and one, the Medical Directive, is pointlessly complex. Seven suggestions are proposed for creating more adequate AD forms. The American Medical Association's recent report on ADs is disappointingly superficial and does not usefully diagnose or suggest solutions for the problems in this area of clinical practice.