Unlike a traditional will or trust, the Five Wishes document allows one to provide personal, emotional, and spiritual directives and expressions of their desires, to one’s health care providers, family and friends. It is a legally recognized document in at least 46 of the USA states. In Mexico and Canada, it is not recognized as a legally binding document per se but it can serve as a guide for Mexicans and Canadians and their caregivers to create their own advance care plans. In my experience, its terms are respected by Mexican medical providers.

Susan Marie Connor, is Professor Emerita of Law Professor who taught 35+ years at the University of Illinois – Chicago. There she taught constitutional law, civil rights litigation and several on discrimination. Before that she practiced law in Hawaii and Illinois as a civil rights attorney and an assistant state’s attorney. Interested in the aging process since an adolescent, she has worked as a disability rights/ civil rights lawyer for 50+ years, was co-founder of both an AIDS Legal Clinic and Hospice Oaxaca. She has assisted many dozens of folks in their preparation of the Five Wishes document and has journeyed with many to their “graduation”. She has been a volunteer at the Oaxaca Learning Center since 2007 serving there on a full time basis since 2014.