The article analyzes the issues of the patient's will in medical relations, it is proved that it is due to the expression of will to the proposed treatment (consent or refusal) that the patient is a full active participant in this relationship. However, his inability to express his will, temporary or irreversible, caused by the development of the disease, the peculiarity of its course may be an obstacle to determining his real desire for future treatment, medical intervention and jeopardize the violation or inability to exercise the patient's right to consent or refuse medical intervention. To avoid this, there is a certain legal institution in the legislation of a number of countries around the world, through which it is possible to plan your treatment in advance, to refuse it, in case of inability to do so in the future.
In some legal systems, this institution has different names - "wishes made earlier", "medical will", "patient's will", "power of attorney to make decisions on health care", "patient orders" and so on. The paper analyzes the content of this institute, considers the views of scholars on it, made a comparative analysis with the legal construction of the "testament" and concluded that there are significant differences between these constructions, which makes it impossible, from the author's point of view, to call this will "testament". . It is proposed to consider such a will as one of the patient's rights - "patient order", which is made in writing by an adult - the patient, regardless of the type and stage of the disease in case of possible future inability to consent to medical examination, intervention or treatment. The patient has at his disposal not only his will for the future (list of medical procedures that are allowed to be performed in relation to his health, which are not), but also the case when it can be used (for example, coma, autonomic state). It is impossible to conclude it through a representative, because in this case the will of the patient is unknown. This order is executed by proxies (relatives, close persons, representatives, doctors, etc.).
Despite the fact that in Ukraine today this legal institution is absent, the main directions of recoding of civil legislation indicate the possibility of its appearance in the updated legislation