According to Arkansas law, any individual 18 years of age or more and of sound mind may execute a living will declaration and Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care
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State Law - Arkansas Rights of the Terminally Ill or Permanently Unconscious Act. Arkansas Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care. Medical Power of Attorney - Organ Donation form |
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Before you start working on your health care directive, you need to know several important definitions. The following explanations are made in accordance with Arkansas Rights of the Terminally Ill or Permanently Unconscious Act (Arkansas Code paragraphs 20-17-201 through 20-17-601). "Qualified patient" means a patient eighteen (18) or more years of age who has executed a declaration or appointed a health care proxy and who has been determined to be in a terminal condition or in a permanently unconscious state by the attending physician and another qualified physician who has examined the patient; "Life-sustaining treatment" means any medical procedure or intervention that, when administered to a qualified patient, will serve only to prolong the process of dying or to maintain the patient in a condition of permanent unconsciousness; "Permanently unconscious" means a lasting condition, indefinitely without change in which thought, feeling, sensations, and awareness of self and environment are absent; "Terminal condition" means an incurable and irreversible condition that, without the administration of life-sustaining treatment, will, in the opinion of the attending physician, result in death within a relatively short time. An attending physician or other health care provider who is unwilling to comply with this subchapter shall as promptly as practicable take all reasonable steps to transfer care of the declarant to another physician or health care provider The declaration must be signed by the declarant, or another at the declarant's direction, and witnessed by two (2) individuals. Among options that you may consider in your health care directive are: (a) whether you want to be given cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in the event your heart stops beating; (b) whether you want your doctor to put you on kidney dialysis; (c) limiting the use of certain medications such as chemotherapy, antibiotics; and, (d) whether you want the use of mechanical ventilators to aid or replace normal breathing. A declaration becomes operative when (i) it is communicated to the attending physician and (ii) the declarant is determined by the attending physician and another physician in consultation either to be in a terminal condition and no longer able to make decisions regarding administration of life-sustaining treatment. When the declaration becomes operative, the attending physician and other health care providers shall act in accordance with its provisions or comply with the transfer provisions of 20-17-207. Upon determining that the declarant is in a terminal condition or permanently unconscious, the attending physician who knows of a declaration shall record the determination and the terms of the declaration in the declarant's medical record. A physician who willfully fails to record the determination of terminal condition or permanent unconsciousness in accordance with 20-17-205 is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor. Keep the original documents in a safe and easily accessible place, and make an extra copy for yourself in case the original is lost or accidentally destroyed. It is important that your doctor and family members know about your Living Will and have a copy of it. Take your Living Will and Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care with you if you are admitted to the hospital. Your Living Will and/or Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care can be revoked at any time by telling your doctor and family members that your wishes have changed. You should tear up and throw away all copies of the document you have revoked. If you do not have a Living Will or a Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care, then decisions about your care may be made by a "surrogate decision-maker," such as certain relatives, a person appointed by a court, or a court itself. The surrogate decision-maker must make decisions based on what you would have wanted if you were able to express your decisions, but if you have not made your wishes known, then the surrogate decision-maker, together with your physician, will make treatment decisions for you based upon their opinions as to your best interest. |
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