What You Can Include in a Personal Directive in Alberta
Your Personal Directive isn’t just a legal form — it’s your opportunity to express your personal values, healthcare preferences, and lifestyle wishes if you lose capacity. You can be as specific or general as you want, but clarity is key.
At Mobile Wills Calgary, we guide every client through a focused conversation to help ensure their directive is legally sound, medically useful, and deeply personal.
Types of Decisions You Can Cover in a Personal Directive
Your directive can include instructions or authorizations in any of the following areas:
Medical Decisions
Whether to receive or refuse life-sustaining treatment
Preferences around the use of ventilators, CPR, or feeding tubes
Pain relief and palliative care wishes
Religious or cultural considerations for care (e.g. modesty, diet, treatment methods)
Instructions for participation in clinical trials or experimental treatments
Organ and tissue donation wishes
Example:
“If there is no hope of recovery or meaningful interaction with loved ones, I do not want to be kept alive through machines.”
Living Arrangements & Care Preferences
Whether you prefer to remain at home with support services or move to assisted living
Preferred care facilities or locations (e.g., near a specific family member)
Specific cultural, spiritual, or community settings
Example:
“If possible, I want to receive care in my own home or a facility within Calgary.”
Day-to-Day Personal Decisions
Dietary preferences or restrictions
Preferred routine or activities
Religious observances
Who can visit or provide care
Maintaining dignity and comfort
Example:
“Maintain my vegetarian diet and continue daily prayer practices if I cannot express this myself.”
End-of-Life Instructions
Whether you want all efforts made to prolong life, or comfort care only
Situations where you’d prefer natural passing
Views on artificial hydration and nutrition
Instructions for Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) preferences
Burial vs. cremation (may be noted here in addition to funeral instructions)
Values-Based Guidance
You can also include general values and guiding principles, such as:
“I want quality of life prioritized over length of life.”
“I want decisions to be made in line with my faith.”
“My dignity and comfort are more important than aggressive treatments.”
This is especially helpful in unforeseen circumstances your directive doesn’t directly address.
You must appoint one or more trusted individuals to act on your behalf when the directive takes effect. Include:
Full legal name and contact information of your primary agent
An alternate agent if the first is unavailable
Whether they must consult with anyone (family, doctors, clergy)
What You Cannot Include
Financial or legal instructions — those belong in your Enduring Power of Attorney
Requests that would violate criminal or healthcare laws
Unenforceable wishes like assisted dying (which is regulated under separate legislation
How Specific Should You Be?
You don’t have to outline every possible scenario — but clarity helps your agent and healthcare providers make decisions that truly reflect your values.
We recommend:
- Listing preferences and instructions
- Using plain language
- Writing a values statement
- Keeping your directive up to date
During your appointment, we’ll help you:
Understand the categories of care and instructions you can include
Discuss common medical and personal choices
Identify which values you want represented
Ensure everything complies with Alberta’s Personal Directives Act
