What is an Advance Medical Directive?
An Advance Medical Directive has two primary functions: (1) naming someone to make medical decisions on your behalf (sometimes called an “agent for medical decisions,” “health-care proxy,” or “medical POA”) and (2) expressing your wishes about whether you want or do not want certain types of medical care. Pennsylvania law allows these two separate but related directives to be combined into one document.
Naming An Agent. An agent for medical decisions is someone who can communicate with your doctor or other health care provider and make medical decisions for you if you cannot make them yourself. For example, if you are unconscious from an illness or accident and the doctors are considering a major surgery, your agent could authorize the surgery. Your agent can be a spouse, other family member, a trusted friend, etc. Appointing such a person ahead of time increases the chances that your preferences for medical treatment, as expressed through your agent, will be honored and that your doctor or treating hospital will have clear direction about what they should or should not do on your behalf.
Expressing Your Wishes. Using an Advance Medical Directive to express your wishes about certain types of medical care will also serve as a guide to your doctors, and perhaps to your agent, about the types of care you want or do not want. This can be useful at any time of your life, but is
especially important for older people and people facing serious illnesses. Your directives can be made part of your medical records so that they will be accessible and known to whatever doctor is treating you. A common directive that people make is that they do not want to receive life-prolonging treatment (such as being kept alive by a breathing machine) if there is no reasonable chance that they will ever recover their health.
Because we believe in the importance of including an Advance Medical Directive in most estate plans, we offer them at reduced rates as part of all of our estate plans.