Health Care Directive
What is a Health Care Directive (Living Will)?
This is a legal document giving instructions about the medical treatment and care you want to receive at the end of your life when you are diagnosed in writing to be in a terminal condition by your attending physician, or in a permanent unconscious condition by two physicians, and where the application of life-sustaining treatment would serve only to artificially prolong the process of dying.
You may indicate whether you want life-support treatment, like artificial respiration or feeding tubes, to be withheld or withdrawn if you become terminally ill and are near death or permanently unconscious.
Do Not Resuscitate Orders (DNR): A patient may request a doctor to issue an order often called a POLST that instructs health care providers to withhold emergency life-resuscitating treatment if the patient's heart or breathing stops.
The standard Health Care Directive does not contain contingencies for Mental Health Issues. I have included a link to a website that has a form on it that can be used for this purpose.
Alzheimer’s Disease/Dementia Mental Health Advance Directive
