Advanced Directives

As a health care provider, we believe that with the facts about your condition and treatment in hand, you should be in control of your health care decisions. However, there may come a time when you are unable to respond or to give immediate input toward care choices due to illness or incapacity. That is why you have the options of advance directives available to you, so you can make your choices clear and in writing before a health event renders you unable to respond.

In the event you haven’t prepared advance directive documents, we have the forms available for you to review and complete so you can remain in control of your future health care decisions. If you have previously prepared your living will and medical power of attorney or health care proxy, we will copy those documents and attach them to your medical record.

What Are Advance Directives?

Advance directives are legal documents that provide comprehensive instructions concerning your health care, or delegates someone to make these decisions for you should you become incapable of making these decisions yourself. Included in these documents are a living will and a durable power of attorney for health care.

What Is a Living Will?

A living will is a legal document which tells your health care providers whether or not you want to receive life-sustaining treatment, should you need it. This document will be referred to if you become terminally ill or permanently unconscious and are unable to make these decisions on your own.

What is a Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care?

A durable power of attorney for health care is a legal document that appoints another person – a family member, attorney or someone you trust – to make your medical decisions for you, should be become temporarily or permanently unable to make these decisions for yourself. We provide informative pamphlets and advanced directives forms to our patients upon request.

If you already have your advanced directives in place, please bring a copy with you each time you are admitted to our hospital. We recognize that the information on these documents may change periodically and we must be certain we have the most current copy on file during your stay.