State Specific Health Care Directives - Advance Directives

Depending on your State the form will be named a Healthcare Directive, Living Will or similar name.


Relive the Decision-Making Burden from Your Close Ones with Health Care Directives Health Care Proxy

As much as we don’t feel like thinking about it, there’s always a possibility that we could end up in unusual medical circumstances, such as mental incapacitation, terminal illness, etc. There could be some things we don’t want medical care to do or conditions in which we don’t wish to remain. What aggravates the situation is the absence of a designated person to whom doctors could turn for help and make the right decisions.

How do we express and direct our preferences in terms of medical treatment if we're mentally incapable of doing it? This sort of circumstance is exactly when advanced directives for healthcare prove helpful.

What Is an Advance Directive? Health Care Directive

An advanced healthcare directive is a legal document that spells out your wishes regarding preferred medical treatment in case you can no longer decide for yourself. In this document, you’re to name who you want (one or a few people in order of preference - also called proxies) to entrust to make decisions on your behalf in emergencies. The directive is never set in stone. You can revoke or change it whenever you want.

Types of Advanced Directive Advance Directives Definitions

There are four types of advanced directives—each of them is an essential element in your advanced health care plan.

  • Living will. A living will is a document expressing your wishes regarding end-of-life care. It covers medical treatments doctors would or wouldn’t want to use to keep you alive. It includes ventilation, tube feeding, specific pain management, organ and tissue donations, etc. We recommend you discuss such options with your doctor before drafting a living will.
  • Medical Power of Attorney. In this document, you appoint a trusted person (a proxy) to act on your behalf when making critical medical decisions. As with all advance directive forms, requirements for an MPA vary by state and may have some exclusions as to whom you can’t designate as a proxy. Make sure to check them beforehand.
  • Don’t resuscitate (DNR) order. This document directs doctors not to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on patients if they stop breathing or their heart stops beating. Even though you can put in your preferences regarding CPR in a living will, this is something that you can include in your medical record without indicating it in your advanced healthcare directive document.
  • Physician order for life-sustaining treatment (POLST). A POLST (this may be called differently in different states) complements your advanced healthcare directives. It generally applies to people who have already been diagnosed with severe or terminal illnesses. And it guides doctors on how to treat it.

Things to Know before Creating Advance Directives Health Care Directive Sample

When completing your medical directive forms, you must consider that each state has different legal requirements. For instance, in some states, it’s mandatory to notarize and witness some advanced directive documents; in others, notarizing isn’t required to consider the document binding.

  • 1. Get professional legal advice if you’re confused and want more information on the nuances of advanced health care planning in your state.
  • 2. Go through your documents with your healthcare agent or doctor to ensure nothing is missing and that you have completed your forms according to state-specific regulations.
  • 3. Make sure your close ones know about the existence of your healthcare directives.
  • 4. Ensure that your documents are easily accessible and you have copies of them when you travel.

Bottom Line Health Directive

Life is unpredictable, and you should prepare for any surprises, however terrifying they may be. US Legal Forms is here to help you with that. In our library, you can find anything from state-specific living will templates to customizable medical power of attorneys that you can easily find, download, print out, and complete. Try US Legal Forms now!