Does Advance Care Planning Make a Difference at the End of Life in ...

The failure of Advance Directives
in the USA
“Just completing a statutory AD does not work”
The prevalence of Advance Directives is low (Prevalence
is 20-30% in the general pop. up to 50% for end-stage
illnesses)
• Advance Directives are most often unavailable at the
place of treatment (available to the physician only 25%
of time)
• Advance directives are most often not helpful to
decision-making (planning is too generic)
• Advance directives are often not followed (not available,
not specific, not accepted).
Wilkinson A, Wenger N, Shugarman LR; U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services; RAND Corporation. Literature Review On Advance
Directives. http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/reports/2007/advdirlr.htm. Published
June 2008.
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