Issues of Advance Medical Directive / 中国医学伦理学

ABSTRACT

Advance medical directive is a statement made by a patient ,which indicates patient′s acceptable or unacceptable treatments , when he or she is not competent to make a medical decision .There are two types of ad-vance directive , which are living will and durable power of attorney for healthcare .The paper will briefly introduce advance directive′s history and analyse its controversies throughout the world .In China , most people don′t own an advance directive .When these patients are faced with medical emergency , their desires can not be known by their relatives, and not to mention let their relatives respect their desires .Cultural barrier and the lack of regulation and propaganda on advance directive are the main reasons cause the current situation of advance directive in china . Based on the analyses above , the paper offers a suggestion that it is necessary to widely promote advance directive in China .During the process of promoting advance directive , should pay attention to guide and respect traditional culture .