title: Advance directives for patients with human immunodeficiency virus infection.
abstract: A consensus has emerged in recent years that decisions about life-sustaining treatment made by informed, competent patients should be respected. Advance directives are expressions of a patient's preferences regarding life-sustaining treatments made while the patient is still competent, to be used if the patient loses competence. Patients infected with HIV have a high mortality rate and frequently lose competence as their disease progresses to AIDS. Therefore, the completion of advance directives in this patient group is vitally important.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco.
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Wachter
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lo
mesh_terms: D016223:Advance Directives; D003422:Critical Care / Q000592:standards; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D015497:HIV-1; D006801:Humans; D008020:Life Support Care / Q000592:standards; D016743:Mental Competency; D010358:Patient Participation; D010360:Patient Transfer; D026684:Personal Autonomy; D010686:Philosophy, Medical; D012945:Social Values; D035521:Supreme Court Decisions; D028761:Withholding Treatment