Advance Directive. It is not mandatory that you have health care directive, however it is highly recommended. Without advance directive you can not communicate your wishes to the doctor
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Washington law allows any competent adult may execute a document directing that life-sustaining procedures be withheld or withdrawn. Revocable living will, durable power of attorney for health care |
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It is not mandatory that you have an advance health care directive, however it is highly recommended. Federal law requires that you be told of your right to make an advance directive when you are admitted to a health-care facility.
Before you order this important document you should know some of the important definitions made in the Revised Code of Washington (RCW) chapter 70.122: "Attending physician" means the physician selected by, or assigned to, the patient who has primary responsibility for the treatment and care of the patient. "Life-sustaining treatment" means any medical or surgical intervention that uses mechanical or other artificial means, including artificially provided nutrition and hydration, to sustain, restore, or replace a vital function, which, when applied to a qualified patient, would serve only to prolong the process of dying. "Life-sustaining treatment" shall not include the administration of medication or the performance of any medical or surgical intervention deemed necessary solely to alleviate pain. "Permanent unconscious condition" means an incurable and irreversible condition in which the patient is medically assessed within reasonable medical judgment as having no reasonable probability of recovery from an irreversible coma or a persistent vegetative state. "Terminal condition" means an incurable and irreversible condition caused by injury, disease, or illness, that, within reasonable medical judgment, will cause death within a reasonable period of time in accordance with accepted medical standards, and where the application of life-sustaining treatment serves only to prolong the process of dying. Washington Health Care Directive (equivalent of Living Will) Any adult person may execute a health care directive directing the withholding or withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment in a terminal condition or permanent unconscious condition. The directive shall be signed by the declarer in the presence of two witnesses not related to the declarer by blood or marriage and who would not be entitled to any portion of the estate of the declarer upon declarer's decease under any will of the declarer or codicil thereto then existing or, at the time of the directive, by operation of law then existing.In addition, a witness to a health care directive shall not be the attending physician, an employee of the attending physician or a health facility in which the declarer is a patient, or any person who has a claim against any portion of the estate of the declarer upon declarer's decease at the time of the execution of the directive. The directive, or a copy thereof, shall be made part of the patient's medical records retained by the attending physician, a copy of which shall be forwarded by the custodian of the records to the health facility when the withholding or withdrawal of life-support treatment is contemplated. A health care directive may be revoked at any time by the declarant without regard to Declarants mental state or competency, and may be revoked by any of the following methods: 1) By being canceled, defaced, obliterated, burned, torn, or otherwise destroyed by the declarant or by some person in declarant's presence and by declarant's direction; 2) By a written revocation of the declarant expressing declarant's intent to revoke, signed, and dated by the declarant (this revocation becomes effective upon communication to the attending physician by the declarant or by a person acting on behalf of the declarant. The attending physician shall record in the patient's medical record the time and date when said physician received notification of the written revocation); or 3) By a verbal expression by the declarant of declarant's intent to revoke the directive (this revocation becomes effective only upon communication to the attending physician by the declarant or by a person acting on behalf of the declarant. The attending physician shall record in the patient's medical record the time, date, and place of the revocation and the time, date, and place, if different, of when said physician received notification of the revocation). If a declarant becomes comatose or is rendered incapable of communicating with the attending physician, the directive remains in effect for the duration of the comatose condition or until such time as the declarant's condition renders declarant able to communicate with the attending physician. Designation of an Agent - Washington Health Care Power of Attorney A principal may authorize his or her attorney-in-fact to provide informed consent for health care decisions on the principal's behalf. If a principal has appointed more than one agent with authority to make mental health treatment decisions in accordance with a directive under chapter 71.32 RCW, to the extent of any conflict, the most recently appointed agent shall be treated as the principal's agent for mental health treatment decisions unless provided otherwise in either appointment.Unless he or she is the spouse, or adult child or brother or sister of the principal, none of the following persons may act as the attorney-in-fact for the principal: - any of the principal's physicians, - the physicians' employees, or the owners, administrators, - or employees of the health care facility or long-term care facility as defined in RCW 43.190.020 where the principal resides or receives care. Except when the principal has consented in a mental health advance directive executed under chapter 71.32 RCW to inpatient admission or electroconvulsive therapy, this authorization is subject to the same limitations as those that apply to a guardian under RCW 11.92.043(5) (a) through (c). You may name health care agent and alternate health care agent under this form, but you may not name a health care provider who may be directly or indirectly involved in rendering health care to you under this power. You may also use Power of Attorney for Health Care to authorize your attorney in fact to make an anatomical gift upon your death. This power of attorney may be amended or revoked by you at any time and in any manner while you are able to do so. In the absence of an amendment or revocation, the authority granted in this power of attorney will become effective at the time this power is signed and will continue until your death and will continue beyond your death if anatomical gift, autopsy, or disposition of remains is authorized, unless a limitation on the beginning date or duration is made. If there is anything about this form that you do not understand, you should ask a lawyer to explain it to you. You should talk with your family, your health-care professional, your attorney, and any agent or attorney-in-fact that you appoint about your health care decision to make one or more advance directives. If they know what health care you want, they will find it easier to follow your wishes. If you cancel or change an advance health care directive in the future, remember to tell these same people about the change or cancellation. |
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