title: Written advance directives: Theuth's blessing... or... curse?
abstract: Advance directives are discussed from a philosophical standpoint and with reference to their relationship to informed consent. The necessity of an advance directive being truly informed is stressed. The author suggests that the validity of these instruments is made quite difficult when the particular context in which they find themselves is one which neither patient nor physician anticipated.
authors.affiliation: University of California, Davis, Sacramento, California 95817, USA. raloewy@ucdavis.edu
authors.forename: Roberta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Springer Loewy
mesh_terms: D016223:Advance Directives / Q000941:ethics*; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D006801:Humans; D007258:Informed Consent / Q000941:ethics*; D008020:Life Support Care / Q000941:ethics; D016743:Mental Competency; D010686:Philosophy, Medical; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D019727:Proxy; D014481:United States; D014956:Writing