Illinois health care power of attorney is legal document gives your agent broad powers to make health care decisions for you - medical power of attorney - hcpoa
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According to Illinois law an adult may prepare a written statement living will to control health care treatment decisions - revocable living will with organ donation provision (Advance Directive) |
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You have the right to make decisions about your health care. No health care may be given to you over your objection, and necessary health care may not be stopped or withheld if you object.
Illinois law allows for the following three types of advance directives, and our package includes three of them: (1) health care power of attorney; (2) living will (health care directive instructions); and (3) mental health treatment preference declaration. Legal Helpmate provides you with two options 1) The Premium Package - Illinois Advance Health Care Directive contains the following documents:
Illinois Advance Health Care Directive (Equivalent of Living Will) This is an important legal document known as an Advance Directive. The Illinois health care directive is designed to help you communicate your wishes about medical treatment at some time in the future when you are unable to make your wishes known because of illness or injury. These wishes are usually based on personal values. In particular, you may want to consider what burdens or hardships of treatment you would be willing to accept for a particular amount of benefit obtained if you were seriously ill.Before signing health care directive you need to discuss you treatment with your physician in as many details as possible, and consider types of treatments that you want/do not want to be performed for you when you are unable to express your wishes because of your illness. Please make sure to state clearly particular treatments you want or do not want. A living will, unlike a health care power of attorney, only applies if you have a terminal condition. A terminal condition means an incurable and irreversible condition when death is imminent and the application of any death delaying procedures serves only to prolong the dying process. Even if you sign a living will, food and water cannot be withdrawn if it would be the only cause of death. Also, if you are pregnant and your health-care professional thinks you could have a live birth, your living will cannot go into effect. You can use a standard living will form or write your own. You may write specific directions about the death-delaying procedures you do or do not want. The Illinois health care directive may not be changed or modified. If you want to make changes in the document, you must make an entirely new one. It is your responsibility to tell your health-care professional if you have a living will. You can cancel your living will at any time, either by telling someone or by canceling it in writing. THIS HEALTH CARE DIRECTIVE IS NOT VALID UNLESS IT IS SIGNED IN THE PRESENCE OF TWO COMPETENT ADULT WITNESSES. THE FOLLOWING PERSONS MAY NOT ACT AS ONE OF THE WITNESSES: (1) the person designated by the Principal as your agent; (2) a person related to the Principal by blood or marriage; (3) a person entitled to any part of the Principal’s estate after the Principal’s death under a will or codicil executed by the Principal or by operation of law; (4) the Principal’s attending physician; (5) an employee of the Principal’s attending physician; (6) an employee of a health care facility in which the Principal is a patient if the employee is providing direct patient care to the Principal or is an officer, director, partner, or business office employee of the health care facility or of any parent organization of the health care facility; or (7) a person who, at the time this power of attorney is executed, has a claim against any part of the Principal’s estate after his or her death. A health care provider who makes good faith health care decisions based on the provisions of an apparently genuine living will is immune from criminal and civil liability for those decisions If you have both a health care power of attorney and a living will, the agent you name in your power of attorney will make your health-care decisions unless he or she is unavailable. Illinois Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care You have the right to make decisions about your health care. No health care may be given to you over your objection, and necessary health care may not be stopped or withheld if you object.Because your health care providers in some cases may not have had the opportunity to establish a long-term relationship with you, they are often unfamiliar with your beliefs and values and the details of your family relationships. This poses a problem if you become physically or mentally unable to make decisions about your health care. In order to avoid this problem, you may sign a health care power of attorney to specify the person whom you want to make health care decisions for you if you are unable to make those decisions personally. That person is known as your health care agent. You should take some time to discuss your thoughts and beliefs about medical treatment with the person or persons whom you have specified as your agent. You may state in this health care poa any types of health care that you do or do not desire and you may limit the authority of your health care agent. If your health care agent is unaware of your desires with respect to a particular health care decision, he or she is required to determine what would be in your best interests in making the decision. The health care power of attorney is an important legal document. It gives your agent broad powers to make health care decisions for you. It revokes any prior power of attorney for health care that you may have made. If you wish to change your power of attorney for health care, you may revoke a health care power of attorney at any time by destroying it, by directing another person to destroy it in your presence, by signing a written and dated statement or by stating that it is revoked in the presence of two witnesses. If you revoke, you should notify your agent, your health care providers and any other person to whom you have given a copy. If your agent is your spouse and your marriage is annulled or you are divorced after signing this health care power of attorney, the poa is invalid. You may also use the health care power of attorney to make or refuse to make an anatomical gift upon your death. If you use this health care power of attorney to make or refuse to make an anatomical gift, this document revokes any prior document of gift that you may have made. You may revoke or change any anatomical gift that you make by this document by crossing out the anatomical gifts provision in this document. Do not sign the health care power of attorney unless you clearly understand it. It is suggested that you keep the original of your health care power of attorney on file with your physician. Illinois Mental Health Treatment Preference Declaration A mental health treatment declaration is an important legal document. It creates a declaration for mental health treatment. Before signing the mental health treatment declaration, you should know these important facts:The mental health treatment declaration allows you to make decisions in advance about 3 types of mental health treatment: psychotropic medication, electroconvulsive therapy, and short-term (up to 17 days) admission to a treatment facility. The instructions that you include in this declaration will be followed only if 2 physicians or the court believes that you are incapable of making treatment decisions. Otherwise, you will be considered capable to give or withhold consent for the treatments. You may also appoint a person as your attorney-in-fact to make these treatment decisions for you if you become incapable. The person you appoint has a duty to act consistent with your desires as stated in this document or, if your desires are not stated or otherwise made known to the attorney-in-fact, to act in a manner consistent with what the person in good faith believes to be in your best interest. For the appointment to be effective, the person you appoint must accept the appointment in writing. The person also has the right to withdraw from acting as your attorney-in-fact at any time. The mental health treatment declaration will continue in effect for a period of 3 years unless you become incapable of participating in mental health treatment decisions. If this occurs, the directive will continue in effect until you are no longer incapable. You have the right to revoke the mental health treatment declaration in whole or in part at any time you have been determined by a physician to be capable of giving or withholding informed consent for mental health treatment. A revocation is effective when it is communicated to your attending physician in writing and is signed by you and a physician. Two people must witness you signing the declaration. The following people may not witness your signing of the declaration: your health-care professional; an employee of a health-care facility in which you reside; or a family member related by blood, marriage or adoption. You may cancel your declaration in writing prior to its expiration as long as you are not receiving mental health treatment at the time of cancellation. If you are receiving mental health treatment, your declaration will not expire and you may not cancel it until the treatment is successfully completed. |
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