According to Illinois law, an adult may prepare a written directive to control the health care treatment decisions that can be made on that person behalf
|
Legal Document Preparation Service |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Illinois health care power of attorney (medical power of attorney) gives the person you name as your agent the authority to make any and all health care decisions for you in accordance with your wishes |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||
|
|||||||||
|
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. 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. THIS POWER OF ATTORNEY 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. |
|||||||||
| * * * | |||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||