Jewish Advanced Directive Forms and Resources

All of these forms should be filled out in consultation with family, medical professionals and legal and rabbinic advisors. They are legally binding forms that should be given to your physicians, attorneys and those assigned to be the primary decisions makers in the event that you are no longer competent to make decisions on your own.

• Orthodox: As Orthodox authorities promote Jewish law/halakhaas obligatory, all the advanced directives are in the form of a health care proxy, in which you declare that all medical decisions should be in accordance with Jewish law and assign a specific rabbinic authority who is qualified to make these decisions. Different communities will assign different rabbis as their agents. They do not promote living wills.
  • Health Care Proxy For State of Florida, prepared by Agudat Yisrael of America
  • Key Concerns For Ultra-Orthodox Patients in Hospice Care, prepared by Metropolitan Health Care System of NY
  • Health Care Proxy, prepared by the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA)
• Conservative: The Rabbinical Assembly has a form that incorporates both a health care proxy, a rabbinic advisor and a living will that outlines a person’s preferences of medical care. As the movement has various positions on issues such as the continuation of artificial nutrition, it allows the person to choose the position they support.
  • Jewish Medical Directives For Healthcare, prepared by The Rabbinical Assembly
  • Two Conservative Views on Jewish End-of-Life Issues
  • Discussing Death: Advanced Directives, Living Will and More, by Rabbi Elliot N. Dorff
• Reform: The Reform movement, which respects the autonomy of each person to make his/her own decisions, does not have a specific Jewish advance planning form. Nonetheless, the movement does offer a guide for families to engage in Jewish conversations, offering Jewish sources as a basis for conversation. The guide points to various contemporary Jewish voices in this conversation.
  • End of Life Decisions: A Discussion Guide, by Dr. Alan D. Bennett