Advance Healthcare Directive

 It is a document which expresses your preferences about end-of-life care and authorizes someone to make and communicate medical decisions for you in the event of your incapacity and inability to make such decisions for yourself. Your advance directive can specify the circumstances under which you would not like your life to be prolonged if, for example, you were in a coma with no reasonable chance of recovery. 

A power of attorney is another legal document used in estate planning that gives another person (the attorney-in-fact) the legal right (powers) to do certain things for you (the principal) in the event of your incapacity and inability to make decisions for yourself.  A power of attorney may be very broad or very limited and specific. All powers of attorney terminate upon the principal’s death.