 |
|
Patient Center
|
 |
By the Meriter Hospital Ethics Committee
This article is intended to provide you with basic information on your rights to make medical decisions and to prepare an Advance Medical Directive, using a Power of Attorney for Healthcare or a Declaration to Physicians ("Living Will"). These are the two forms of Advance Medical Directives currently recognized by the State of Wisconsin. The article is not intended to provide you with legal advice of any kind.
The following questions are answered in this article:
- What is an Advance Medical Directive?
- What is a Power of Attorney for Healthcare?
- What is a Declaration to Physicians ("Living Will")?
- Should I Have Both a Power of Attorney for Healthcare & a Declaration to Physicians ("Living Will")?
- How Do I Make an Advance Medical Directive?
- Where Should I Keep my Advance Medical Directive?
- If I Change My Mind in the Future, Can I Revoke My Advance Medical Directive?
- Does My Power of Attorney for Healthcare or Declaration to Physicians Need to be Renewed?
- Who Should I Contact for the Forms?
What is an Advance Medical Directive?
Competent adults have the right to control decisions about their own medical care, including decisions to accept or refuse care and treatment. You also have the right to plan and direct your future healthcare decisions in the event that you are no longer able to communicate with your healthcare providers. The written document you use to make your wishes known is called an advance medical directive. The two forms of advance medical directives currently recognized in Wisconsin are Power of Attorney for Healthcare, and Declaration to Physicians (more commonly referred to as a "Living Will").
An advance medical directive tells, in writing, your choices about the treatments you want or do not want and about how healthcare decisions are to be made for you if you become incapacitated and cannot express your wishes. An advance medical directive expresses your personal wishes and is based upon your beliefs and values.
Since an advance directive speaks for you when you are unable to do so, it may provide guidance to your healthcare providers and relieve your family and friends from the burden of guessing about what types of care and treatment you want to receive.
We have developed policies directing our staff to inform you of your right to accept or refuse treatment and of the options you have to make these decisions known through advance medical directives. As your healthcare provider, we will honor your wishes, as expressed in your valid advance medical directive, whenever medically and legally possible.
We hope you will communicate your desires to the healthcare workers who will be taking care of you, and think about completing a written advance medical directive if you have not already done so. Treatment is not dependent upon your having completed an advance medical directive. In the event that no advance medical directive exists, standard medical policies and guidelines are in place to instruct our physicians and other healthcare employees; medical care will be provided according to standard procedures until a written advance medical directive is presented that directs otherwise.
In accordance with the Patient Self-Determination Act, we are required to ask you if you have an advance medical directive. We also are required to provide you with this information about your right to accept or refuse medical treatment as well as your right to prepare an advance medical directive, such as Power of Attorney for Healthcare or a Declaration to Physicians ("Living Will").
What is a Power of Attorney for Healthcare?
A Power of Attorney for Healthcare is one type of advance medical directive. It is a document authorizing someone you trust to make healthcare decisions on your behalf should you be unable to make and communicate those decisions to your healthcare providers. This person is known as your healthcare agent. Your healthcare providers, their employees, or their spouses cannot serve as your healthcare agent unless they are one of your relatives.
In the Power of Attorney for Healthcare, you give certain powers to your healthcare agent and in doing so, provide information about which treatments you desire or wish to avoid.
A Power of Attorney for Healthcare becomes effective when two physicians or a physician or psychologist certify, in writing, that you are not able to make your own decisions or express your choices.
What is a Declaration to Physicians ("Living Will")?
A Declaration to Physicians ("Living Will") is another type of advance medical directive. It is a document you may use to authorize your healthcare provider to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatment or a feeding tube if you are terminally ill or in a persistent vegetative state.
Should I Have Both a Power of Attorney for Healthcare and a Declaration to Physicians ("Living Will")?
These documents are different and, thus, can conflict with one another and send confusing messages to your healthcare providers. If you choose to have both documents and they conflict with one another, the provisions of your valid Power of Attorney for Healthcare will replace the directly conflicting provisions of your Declaration to Physicians.
You may want to talk with your physician, attorney, social worker or other healthcare provider to assist you in determining the most appropriate document for you.
How Do I Make an Advance Medical Directive?
A Power of Attorney for Healthcare or a Declaration to Physicians ("Living Will") must be voluntarily signed by you, a competent adult or signed by another at your direction and in your presence if you are unable to sign yourself.
The Advance Medical Directive must be witnessed by two adult individuals who are:
- Not related to you
- Not entitled to or have a claim against your estate
- Not your healthcare provider
- Not an employee of your healthcare provider (note, however, that chaplains and social workers employed by your healthcare provider can serve as witnesses)
- Not an employee of the healthcare facility in which you are receiving care
- Not directly financially responsible for your healthcare
- Not your healthcare agent (in the case of the Power of Attorney for Healthcare)
Where Should I Keep my Advance Medical Directive?
Your advance medical directive should be discussed and shared with your family, your physician(s) and your healthcare agent if you are signing a Power of Attorney for Healthcare. You should keep the original Power of Attorney for Healthcare or Declaration to Physicians and provide copies to your primary physicians, as well as any other physician or healthcare provider where you have an existing medical record and where you are apt to receive care.
You also should provide copies to your family, close friends and in the case where you have executed a Power of Attorney for Healthcare, your primary and alternate healthcare agents.
Although you do not need a lawyer to draw up an advance medical directive, you may wish to discuss these documents with your lawyer and provide a copy to your personal attorney.
If I Change My Mind in the Future, Can I Revoke My Advance Medical Directive?
Yes, you may choose to revoke or replace a Power of Attorney for Healthcare or Declaration to Physicians at any time. The different ways you can do this are explained on the forms.
Does My Power of Attorney for Healthcare or Declaration to Physicians Need to be Renewed?
You do not have to renew these documents at set intervals. However, you may want to review them periodically to be sure these documents reflect your current beliefs and wishes about your future healthcare decisions.
Who Should I Contact for the Forms?
Three Wisconsin-specific forms are available through this site:
- Power of Attorney Form
- Declaration to Physicians Form
- Power of Attorney Form (customized for Jehovah's Witnesses)
Please note these are PDF files. You can also contact Meriter Patient and Family Services at (608) 417-6027. In addition, forms may be obtained from:
Wisconsin Division of Health
P.O. Box 309
Madison, WI 53701-0309
(608) 266-8475
top
Back to Advance Medical Directives Main Page
9/1/2005
Meriter Careers | Giving Back | My Feedback | Search and Site Map
