Advance directives in the clinical ethics context: an African perspective

In this paper I examine issues associated with advance directives and the impact these issues have on people's lives based on their value systems. I ague from an African perspective, where I defend the view that competent persons ought to be allowed to decide on medical interventions they want (or do not want) should they become incompetent. My arguments are derived from the idea of African concepts of death, dying and belief in ancestral realm. The principle of collective-autonomous decision is used to explain how decisions on advance directives to reject a medical intervention can be implemented in the African context.