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The following information is designed to assist you
in formulating decisions about Advance Directives. We
advise that you inform family members and others who
might be involved in your care about the existence of an
advance directive-Living Will, or Durable Power of
Attorney for Healthcare and that copies of those
documents be given to persons you think should be aware
of their content.
Healthcare decisions, and especially Advance
Directives, should not be prepared in haste. You should
give thoughtful consideration to your beliefs and wishes
about your healthcare and especially death and dying.
A Living Will is a written consent in
which you state whether you want life-prolonging
treatment used or withheld if you become terminally ill
and are not able to make decisions for yourself. It will
become effective only when you have a terminal condition
and cannot communicate your own decisions.
A Durable Power of
Attorney for Healthcare is an Advance Directive that
becomes effective when an individual, in the physician's
judgment, is temporarily unable to make or communicate
healthcare decisions.
Any competent person 18 years
or older. Advance Directives are not only for older
persons; they are helpful for people of all ages.
An Advance Directive
helps your family and physician know the kind of medical
treatment that you want or do not want if you cannot
speak for yourself. Advance Directives are legally
enforceable. It helps to avoid family disagreements,
guilt feelings, and doubts about how to treat you when
you are unable to communicate the treatment you wish or
do not wish to receive.
A terminal condition, as defined
by Minnesota law, is an incurable or irreversible
condition for which the administration of medical
treatment will only prolong the dying process. This
broad definition covers many types of illness or injury,
such as cancer, car accidents, and many other
incapacitating illnesses.
Living Will/Durable Power of Attorney for
Healthcare
Minnesota provides a special
form that may be used.
You may change or
revoke these documents at any time. Any alterations and
any written revocation should be signed and dated, and
copies should be given to your family, physician, and
other appropriate people. Even without an official
written change, your orally expressed direction to your
physician generally has priority over any statement made
in an Advance Directive.
The absence of an
Advance Directive will not influence the quality of
medical care provided. If you do not have an Advance
Directive and become unable to make healthcare
decisions, your physician and family will seek to honor
your wishes as best they can, and together will decide
your course of treatment. See the following summary of
Minnesota law in respect to your rights to make
healthcare decisions: Summary of Minnesota Law on
Patient's/Resident's Rights to Make Healthcare Decisions
The primary right to
all competent, adult persons is the right to consent to
treatment; that is, the right to be free from unwanted
bodily contact. In the context of medical treatment, the
right to consent includes the right to be informed,
prior to giving consent of information pertinent to the
consent decisions. This includes complete and current
information concerning diagnosis, treatment,
alternatives, risks, and prognosis. An individual also
has a right to revoke his/her consent previously given.
Under
Minnesota statutory law, competent persons have the
right to refuse treatment based on the information
required in order to make an informed decision.
Minnesota statutory law allows
competent adults to give advance instruction concerning
their own healthcare. A "Living Will" becomes operative
if the individual has a terminal condition and becomes
unable to participate in decisions regarding his/her
treatment. A "Durable Power of Attorney for Healthcare"
becomes operative when the physician determines an
inability to make healthcare decisions for self. This
may be temporary. An Advance Directive can be revoked at
any time, regardless of the patient's physical or mental
condition (i.e., competence). Failure to execute an
Advance Directive or to designate an agent/proxy does
not create a presumption concerning the individual's
intentions regarding his/her course of treatment or the
appropriate treatment to be provided.
A competent adult may
also make a declaration as to his/her instructions
regarding intrusive mental health treatment, which is
defined as electroshock therapy or neuroleptic
medication. Unlike a Living Will, and Advance Mental
Healthcare Directive can be revoked only be a competent
patient. To obtain the Mental Health Directive, call the
Minnesota Health Law Project at 1-800-292-4150.
Minors have the right to
make healthcare decisions in the following limited
situations:
a.) the minor is living apart from his/her parents
or legal guardian and is managing his/her own
financial affairs, or,
b.) the minor is being seen
to receive treatment for pregnancy, conditions
associated with pregnancy, venereal disease, or
alcohol substance abuse, or,
c.) the minor is or
has been married or has borne a child.
Emergency conditions,
in which immediate medical treatment is indicated,
obviate the need for consent if it is impossible or
impractical to obtain consent because delay would
endanger the patient's life, health, or safety.
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1-800-882-6262
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1-800-365-8765 |
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1-800-462-5393 |
1-800-657-3591
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