Advance Directives – Health Care Power of Attorney and Living Will Declaration
Do you have a patient that would like to set up a Health Care Power of Attorney
Why consider completing Advance Directives?
Having a HCPA and Living Will in place allows patients to choose who will make medical decisions for them if they are unable to do so for themselves. It allows them to have their wishes be known in advance, in case they become incapacitated. Without Advance Directives, these decisions will be left up to their family. It is always the patient’s choice if they would like to complete these forms or not, as that is their right. Any patient that is 18 years of age or older can complete these documents. Patients may choose to complete one or both documents.
- Encourage patients to think about who they would like to act as their decision maker – Someone they trust, someone they are close to, someone who is concerned about their care and feelings
- Encourage patients to have these hard conversations with that person sooner rather than later. – Discuss end-of-life decisions, do they want heroic measures like life support, do they want hospice services, do they want artificial nutrition, discuss values and beliefs, healthcare goals, etc. – have multiple conversations as these choices may change over time
- Encourage patients to complete this paperwork and to provide copies to family members, physician offices, hospitals used, and any place that can be accessed in an emergency.
- It is never “too soon” to complete Advance Directives.
Advance Directives ONLY go into effect when a patient is:
- Under anesthesia
- Sedated
- Delirious or confused
- Unconscious
- On life support and unable to make decisions.
- Unable to give “informed consent”
- Physician has deemed the patient incompetent to make decisions
Without Advance Directives, Ohio law recognizes the following order and list of people who can make decisions on a patient’s behalf:
- Patient’s spouse
- Patient’s adult child or majority of adult children
- Patient’s parents
- Patient’s adult sibling or majority of adult siblings
- Patient’s nearest relative (related by blood or adoption)