Advance Directives 3/25/2010
What are Advance Directives?
Advance Directives help protect your decisions regarding medical treatment in the event that you lose the ability to make decisions for yourself. You can assure this protection by completing a Living Will and a Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care.
A Living Will lets you state your wishes about medical care in the event that you are terminally ill or in a persistent vegetative state and can no longer make your own medical decisions. Your Living Will only becomes effective when two doctors certify that you are terminally ill and that your death will occur with or without the use of life-sustaining procedures or that you are in a persistent vegetative state.
A Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care allows you name someone to make decisions about your medical care, including decisions about life support, if you can no longer speak for yourself. Your Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care appoints someone to speak for you any time that you are unable to make your own medical decisions, not only at the end of life.
Questions and Answers about completing your Advance Directives
Can I add personal instructions to my Living Will and Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care?
Yes. You may add personal instructions. However, by doing so you might unintentionally restrict your agent's power to act in your best interest. One of the strongest reasons for naming an agent is to have someone who can respond flexibly as your medical situation changes and deal with situations that you did not foresee. Instead of adding specific instructions, you might consider talking to your agent about your future medical care and describe what you consider to be an acceptable "quality of life." Your agent must make decisions that are consistent with your known desires. If you do add specific instructions, they may include things like refusing specific treatments such as, "I especially do not want cardiopulmonary resuscitation, a respirator, artificial feeding, or antibiotics." You may also emphasize pain control by adding instructions such as, "I want to receive as much pain medication as necessary to ensure my comfort, even if it may hasten my death."
Who should I appoint as my agent?
Your agent is the person you appoint to make decisions about your medical care if you become unable to make those decisions yourself. Your agent can be a family member or another person you trust to make serious decisions. The person you name as your agent should clearly understand your wishes and be willing to accept responsibility for making medical decisions for you. An agent may sometimes be called an "attorney-in-fact" or "proxy.” The person you appoint as your agent cannot be:
- Your doctor or other treating health care provider
- An employee of your treating health care provider, unless he or she is related to you
- An operator of a community care facility
- An employee of a community care facility, unless he or she is related to you
You can appoint a second and third person as your alternate agent(s). The alternate will step in if the first person you name as agent is unable, unwilling, or unavailable to act for you.
What other important facts should I know?
Your Living Will and Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care may not be effective in the event of a medical emergency. Ambulance personnel are required to provide cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) unless they are given a separate order that states otherwise. These orders, commonly called "non-hospital do-not-resuscitate orders," are designed for people whose poor health gives them little chance of benefiting from CPR. These orders must be signed by your physician, and ambulance personnel must be instructed not to attempt CPR if your heart or breathing should stop. In Idaho this is called a "Comfort One" order. A "Comfort One" order is a form obtained from your physician and is kept on file by the EMS office in Boise. For more information, call the EMS office at 208-334-4000.
After You Complete Your Documents -
- Your Living Will and Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care is an important legal document. Keep the original signed document in a secure but accessible place. You should not put the original document in a safe deposit box or any other security box that would keep others from having access to them.
- Give photocopies of the signed originals to your agent and alternate agents, doctor(s), family, close friends, clergy, and anyone else who might become involved in your health care. If you enter a nursing home or hospital, have photocopies of your documents placed in your medical records.
- Be sure to talk to your agent and alternative agents, doctor(s), clergy, and family and friends about your wishes concerning medical treatment. Discuss your wishes with them often, particularly if your medical condition changes.
- If you want to make changes to your documents after they have been signed and witnessed, you must complete new documents.
- Remember, you can always revoke your Living Will and Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care.
Register Your Documents Online!
If you are concerned that your living will and durable power of attorney documents will not be readily available in an emergency, you may want to register them online on the Health Care Directive Registry. Go online to: www.sos.idaho.gov
Where can I get the Idaho Living Will and Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care documents?
Online, you can print copies of these forms from the Idaho Attorney General’s web site. Go to: www2.state.id.us/ag/living_wills.
By phone, you can call the Idaho Attorney General’s office by dialing 1-208-334-2400.