04/06/2026
An Advance Care Directive (ACD) help ensure your future medical care reflects your own wishes and values. It allows you to document your wishes for a time when you may become unable to make or communicate decisions.
These explicit instructions state the treatments you would like to receive, and just as importantly, the treatments you do not want to receive. This is known as an instructional directive. An Instructional directive is legally binding, meaning health practitioners have a legal obligation to follow these directions.
An ACD also allows you to record statements about your values, beliefs, and preferences for future care. This is known as a values directive. A values directive is also legally recognised, and it must be considered when no instructional directive applies.
However, unlike an instructional directive, it is not legally binding. Instead, it serves as a guide for medical decision-makers and clinicians to help ensure decisions reflect what you would have wanted.
To ensure your wishes are understood and respected, it is recommended that you also appoint one or more Medical Treatment Decision Makers. This nominated person (or people) will make decisions on your behalf if you lose capacity, guided by your instructional and values directives.
Read more about these important considerations on our website: https://www.dwdv.org.au/advance_care_directives_and_medical_treatment_decision_makers
