Advance Health Care Directives

• A Power of Attorney for Health Care lets you name an agent to make decisions for you. Your agent can make most medical decisions—not just those about life-sustaining treatment—when you can’t’ speak for yourself. You can also let your agent make decisions earlier, if you wish.
• You can create an Individual Health Care Instruction by writing down your wishes about health care or by talking with your doctor and asking the doctor to record your wishes in your medical file. If you know when you would or would not want certain types of treatment an Instruction provides a good way to make your wishes clear to your doctor and to anyone else who may be involved in deciding about treatment on your behalf.
• These two types of Advance Health Care Directives may be used together or separately. 

Questions Regarding an Advance Health Care Directive– 

·         What is an Advance Health Care Directive?
·         Who decides about my treatment?
·         How do I know what I want?
·         Can other people help with my decisions?
·         Can I choose a relative or friend to make health care decisions for me?
·         What if I become too sick to make my own health care decisions?
·         Do I have to wait until I am sick to express my wishes about health care?
·         Who can make an advance directive?
·         Who can I name as my agent?
·         When does my agent begin making my medical decisions?
·         How does my agent know what I would want?
·         What if I don’t want to name an agent?
·         What if I change my mind?
·         What happens when someone else makes decisions about my treatment?
·         Will I still be treated if I don’t make an advance directive?
·         How can I get more information about making an advance directive?

          Advance Health Care Directive Form  [pdf 81kb]