Advance directives: final wishes on end-of-life care

Verified 28 May 2026 - Public Service / Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

What are advance directives? It's a written declaration that you write to clarify your wishes related to the end of your life. You express it that way in advance your willingness to continue, limit, stop or refuse of treatments or medical procedures. This document helps doctors, when the time comes, to take their decisions on the care to give if you cannot more express your wishes (example: because of a serious illness). We're taking a look at the regulations.

Advance directives allow you to publicize in advance your wishes on your end of life in case you couldn't more show your will. For example, coma, deep cognitive impairment, accident, disease progression, old age.

Advance directives are not intended to be used if you are able to express your wishes.

They express your will on the conditions of pursuit, the limitation, theshutdown or the denial from medical treatment or procedure.

Example :

You indicate accept or refuse:

  • Cardiac and respiratory resuscitation (breathing tube)
  • Connecting your body to a kidney dialysis machine
  • This or that surgery.

If you are unable to express your will and in the absence of advance directives, the medical team will have to seek to know your will, including through the testimony of your trusted person.

In the absence of a designated trusted person, the medical team will collect testimonials from your family or relatives.

It depends on your situation:

General case

You must be major to write your advance directives.

FYI  

From the age of 18, your health insurance fund periodically informs you of the possibility of drafting, reviewing and confirming its advance directives.

You are under guardianship

Ability to write

If you are able to write your advance directives, you can do it alone, without assistance, without possible representation and without a priori intervention of the judge.

Not able to write

If you are not intellectually or materially able to write them, these advance directives cannot be developed by you or your guardian.

Advance directives must take the form of a written, dated and signed document with:

  • Your first and last names
  • Your date and place of birth.

The document is handwritten or typed.

Some health facilities provide a form.

To help you, 2 templates with editable fields are proposed, depending on you:

  • Are suffering from a serious illness, think you are close to the end of life (model A)
  • Think of being healthy, not suffering from a serious illness (model B).

Model advance directives (development, modification, cancelation)

The use of this template is not mandatory. Advance directives can also be written on free paper.

However, this model guarantees that the expression of your will meets the conditions of validity provided by the regulations. And it also helps you in an exercise that can be difficult.

Your attending physician must inform you of the possibility and conditions of drafting and revising advance directives.

You can call 2 witnesses, including your trusted person, to write them for you.

These people must attest that this document, written by one of them or by a third party, expresses your will.

They shall indicate:

  • Their name, first name
  • And the level of relationship with you (brother, friend...).)

Their attestation must be attached to the advance directives.

Faced with a patient who is no longer able to express his wishes, the doctors shall seek to know whether he has drafted advance directives. It is therefore important that they are easily accessible.

Warning  

Whatever your choice, inform your doctor and family about the existence and storage of your instructions. So, when the day comes, the doctor who will accompany you at the end of your life will know where to find your instructions.

There are several ways to publicize your advance directives:

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Save the guidelines in the shared medical record (digital health space)

It is you recommended :

  • To have your advance directives saved in My health space (shared medical record)
  • And to inform your relatives (the trusted person or the 2 witnesses if you can not write your instructions) that their names and personal details are listed.

Similarly, if the shared medical record states that someone has your advance directives, be sure to inform them that their names and contact information are on it.

They will thus be easily searchable if necessary.

Entrust advance directives to your city doctor (attending or other)

You can entrust your advance directives to your doctor. It will keep them in the file which he has compiled in your name, particularly in the absence of a shared medical file.

FYI  

If your instructions are kept in a medical file, do not forget to inform your loved ones (the trusted person or the 2 witnesses if you can not write your instructions) that their names and personal details are included.

Similarly, if the medical record indicates that someone has your advance directives, be sure to inform them that their names and contact information are on it.

Hand over instructions to a loved one

Finally, you can also entrust your instructions to:

In this case, their existence, their place of storage and the identification of the person in possession of your instructions may be mentioned by you in your medical file.

Assign instructions to the hospital or facility for the elderly

If you are hospitalized for a serious illness or admitted to a facility for the elderly, you can entrust your instructions to that hospital or facility.

It will integrate them into your file.

Reminder

If you choose to keep your instructions in your « shared medical record » or in a medical record, be sure to inform the family members concerned (your « trusted person » or witnesses) that their names and personal details are included. Also, if these records indicate that someone has your advance directives, be sure to inform them that their names and personal contact information are on them.

Keep the guidelines at home

You can also keep them at home and/or carry with you an indication of where they are kept.

The guidelines are imposed on the doctor for any decision on investigation, intervention or treatment.

However, do not impose themselves in the following 2 cases:

  • In the event of a life-threatening emergency for the time necessary for a full assessment of the situation (e.g. patient to be resuscitated following a sudden health accident)
  • When advance directives appear manifestly inappropriate or not in accordance with the medical situation.
    In this case, the doctor must make his decision in the framework of a collegial procedure. This decision is therefore made by several doctors who discuss the case. Once made, this decision is in the medical record.
    The decision refusing application of advance directives shall be notified to the trusted person or, if not, your family or loved ones.

Advance directives have a duration unlimited.

If several advance directives exist, the most recent are taken into account, regardless of the medium

Advance directives can be at any time modified or canceled.

The last page of the advance directives model is devoted to amending or canceling directives:

Model advance directives (development, modification, cancelation)

If you wish edit your advance directives, you can write new ones.

Then ask your doctor, hospital or medical-social institution that keeps them to delete the previous ones.

If they have been saved on your shared medical record (digital health space), you can save new ones.

Only the most recent document will be considered.

You can call 2 witnesses, including your trusted person, to write them for you.

These people must attest that this document, written by one of them or by a third party, expresses your will.

They shall indicate:

  • Their name, first name
  • And the level of relationship with you (brother, friend...).)

Their attestation must be attached to the advance directives.

Model advance directives (development, modification, cancelation)

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