Legal Advisor: Advance Directives
Advance directives can be a difficult topic because they deal with
end-of-life and other serious medical situations. However, advance
directives are valuable to patients and health care providers alike
because they minimize conflict between family and health care providers
by clarifying and respecting patients’ wishes.
What Are Advance Directives?
An advance directive is a document in which an individual appoints a
health care agent. The document sets forth instructions for health care
treatment in the event the individual “lacks the capacity to make
or to communicate health care decisions.” Advance directives
include health care proxies and living wills. Health care proxies are
“document[s] delegating to an agent the authority to make health
care decisions” and are governed by Massachusetts law. Living
wills are documents specifying the nature or scope of medical care an
individual wishes to receive in the event he or she becomes
incapacitated. these interventions might include resuscitation efforts,
artificial feeding and hydration, and comfort measures. Although
Massachusetts law does not govern living wills, they lend guidance to an
agent’s decisions.
Next: Heath
Care Agents
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