What is a Health Care Directive?
A health care directive is a written document that informs other of your wishes about your health care. It allows you to name a person (“agent”) to decide for you if you are unable to decide. It also allows you to name an agent if you want someone else to decide for you. You must be at least 18 years old to make a health care directive.
A Health Care Directive is a document otherwise known as a “living will” which normally gives a family member or friend health care “power of attorney” allowing that person to make health care decisions when the person executing the document is not able to do so; it usually contains instructions as to the individual’s desires regarding resuscitation, pro-longing life, and other medical decisions.
A Health Care Directive (sometimes called a Living Will or Advance Directive) is a legal document that allows you to express your wishes for medical treatment when you are unable to express them or are near death. The document allows people who clearly do not want their lives prolonged to make their wishes known. Your Health Care Directive is only used if you have a terminal condition as certified by your physician, where life-sustaining treatment would only prolong the process of dying; or you are certified by two physicians to be in an irreversible coma or other permanent unconscious condition and there is no reasonable hope of recovery. In either situation, your directive allows treatment to be withheld or withdrawn so that you may die naturally. In your Health Care Directive, you may also direct whether you would like artificially provided nutrition (food) and hydration (water) stopped in the above situations. You may also give further written instructions regarding your care. If y
A health care directive is a written document that informs others of your health care wishes. It allows you to name a person (or “agent”) to make decisions for you if you are unable to do so. Under Minnesota law, anyone 18 or older can make a health care directive. Why might I need a health care directive? A health care directive is useful if you become unable to adequately communicate your health care wishes. The directive guides your doctor, family and friends regarding your care at a time when you are not able to provide that information. While you do not have to create a health care directive (you will still receive medical care without one), a directive will help you get exactly the care you would like, particularly near the end of your life when your interests may not be the same as those who survive you. How do I prepare a health care directive? There are forms that you can use to draft a health care directive. The Sample Forms section includes a sample health care directive for
