Advance Care Planning in Ecuador

Advance Care Planning is a process by which a patient's health care preferences are established in advance in the event that he or she become temporarily or constantly unable to make decisions for themselves in the future. It is also applied early in emergencies, in intensive care treatment, and after surgery where one's ability to decide is reduced. In Ecuador there is currently no legislation on this subject, however, the National Health Bioethics Commission validated and published the document "Advance Living Will" and as an important advance issued a favorable criterion before the National Assembly for it to be incorporated into the Organic Health Code, the concept, regulations, and the text of Vital Advance Will. Instead of, its use is currently not in force. However, the compliance criteria have been established in the Palliative Care Standard since 2015, but are not yet implemented. There are few studies that demonstrate its application in the country, so it is important to know the cultural and social characteristics of both health professionals and patients, which limit its application.