DOWNLOAD ADVANCED DIRECTIVES

We have collected Advanced Directives for all 50 states and have made them available to you for download.  In some states, Advanced Directives include both a Healthcare Proxy and a Living Will while others require them to be separate documents.  It is important to remember this information does not replace the advice of a lawyer but it is an important guide to understanding your options should you become incapacitated.

Be sure to determine if the Advanced Directive, Health Care Proxy or Living Will in your state needs to witness by a Notary Public.  Each state has different rules on this requirement.

DEFINITIONS

 
HEALTHCARE PROXY (MEDICAL POWER OF ATTORNEY)- Health Care Proxy and Medical Power of Attorney are used interchangeably and refer to a legal document that allows a designated individual to make health care decisions on your behalf in the event that you are incapacitated and are unable to carrying out medical decisions on your own.   The designated individual continues to be allowed to make healthcare decisions for you as long as you are incapacitated.   

Healthcare Proxies are permitted in forty-nine states as well as the District of Columbia.  In most states the document must be witnessed or notarized to ensure that it has been properly executed.   Check on the laws of your state to see if this is required.

LIVING WILLS – A living will is a legal document in which patients instruct health-care providers about their wishes with respect to medical procedures should they become incapacitated.  A living will provides details under which patient should or should not receive medical intervention such as resuscitation, mechanical ventilation, nutritional assistance and hydration, dialysis and other life support measures.  A living will cannot anticipate all situations but it serves as an important guide to the health care proxy and family when decisions about medical intervention must be made.