Patient and Visitor Guide

Advance Directives

You can create a legal document that ensures your health care wishes are carried out if you become unable to make them known.

Quick links:

• Living Will
  
• Medical Power of Attorney
  
• Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) Directive
  
• Be An Organ Donor

Creating an advance directive

You can make an advance directive by filling out a form. Most states require two witnesses to observe you signing the document. Some states require the document to be notarized.

Consult your physician or an attorney to ensure you are going through the correct steps to create a directive.

Directive to Physicians, Family or Surrogates (Living Will)-This advance directive is an important legal document also known as a Living Will. It is designed to help you communicate your wishes about medical treatment at some time in the future when you are unable to make your wishes known because of illness or injury. Click here to print the instructions and form.

Medical Power of Attorney- This is an important legal document. Except to the extent you state otherwise, this document gives the person you name as your agent the authority to make any and all health care decisions for you in accordance with your wishes, including your religious and moral beliefs, when you are no longer capable of making them yourself. The person you choose as your agent can make treatment decisions based on your wishes. He or she should be familiar with your opinions on life-sustaining or major medical treatments, so he or she can weigh the pros and cons and make the decision you would make.

Unless you appoint an agent, health care providers may be forced to make critical decisions for you, or a court may appoint a guardian for you. Click here to print the instructions and form.

Out-of-Hospital Do Not Resuscitate-In an advance directive called a Directive to Physicians and Family or Surrogates or Living Will, you can give instructions about whether you want physicians to take life-sustaining measures if you become terminally ill. Print the instructions and form here.

Organ Donation- Right now, more than 96,000 people in the United States await organs that could give them a chance for a longer, healthier life. And thousands more need tissue transplants. People of all ages and background can be organ donors. If you are under age 18, your parent or guardian must give you permission to become a donor. If you are 18 or older you can show you want to be a donor by signing a donor card. You should also let your family know your wishes. Learn more about organ donation and to download a donation card.

Cancelling or changing an advance directive

Directives can be canceled or changed by you at any time. You should notify your agent and health care provider of the changes in writing.

Create a new directive and destroy all copies of the old one to ensure your revised wishes are carried out.

Again, consult your physician or an attorney to make sure you have amended your directive correctly.

What should your directive say?

Writing your directive requires you to weigh some difficult decisions. AARP says asking these questions can help:

• How do you feel about your current health?
  
• How important is independence and self-sufficiency in your life?
  
• How do you imagine handling illness, disability, dying and death?
  
• How might your personal relationships affect medical decision making, especially near the end of you life?
  
• What role should doctors and other health professionals play in such decisions?
  
• What kind of living environment is important to you if you become seriously ill or disabled?
  
• How much should the cost to your family be a part of decision making?
  
• What role do your religious beliefs play in decisions about your health care?
  
• What are your thoughts about life in general in its final stages: your hopes and fears, enjoyments and sorrows?

Remember, you don't need to give specific directions to your agent. You can give your agent enough information about your wishes so he or she can make decisions for you.

However, if you have specific wishes or preferences, you should detail them in your directive.

If you don't have a directive

If you haven't created a directive, health care providers generally consult with a family member to help make care decisions. However, a directive may spare your family members from being forced to make difficult decisions, or from arguing among themselves about what to do.

Once your directive is signed

Copies of your completed directive should be given to your doctor and agent, along with any close relatives or friends involved in or concerned about your care.

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