A healthcare directive — sometimes called an advance directive — is the umbrella term for the documents that govern medical decision-making when you’re unable to communicate. In Pennsylvania, this generally means two components working together: a healthcare power of attorney, which names the person authorized to decide on your behalf, and a living will, which states your own wishes about specific end-of-life treatments in advance.

The distinction matters because each component solves a different problem. Naming an agent answers “who decides,” for situations no document can fully anticipate. A living will answers “what would I want,” for the specific, narrower circumstances it addresses — typically permanent unconsciousness or a terminal condition. Most people benefit from both, because most medical situations fall outside the narrow scope a living will alone can cover, and someone still needs the authority to act.