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Advance Directives: Living Will, Power of Attorney, & Health Care Proxy

No one wants to burden their loved ones, but it is so hard to think about becoming so sick or injured that you cannot make health care decisions. But almost everyone will face a health care crisis in their lifetime. You can empower the people you trust to make medical decisions for you if you cannot make them yourself. And you can ease the emotional burden on your family by ensuring they know your wishes for medical care if you are terminally ill.

Advance directives are legal documents in which you provide instructions for how you want health care to be provided to you in the future. There are two types of Advance Directives:

a. Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care: A document that designates who will make health decisions for you if you lose your ability to make those decisions. This document is also called a Medical Power of Attorney or a Healthcare Proxy.

A Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care is a document in which you identify someone you trust to make your personal medical decisions if you cannot.

Unless you specify differently, the person you identify as your Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care will only have the authority to make decisions on your behalf while you lack capacity.

Your Durable Power of Attorney for Health has the same rights as you would to your medical records and your medical providers.

b. Living Will: A document that provides instructions regarding what health care you want to be provided or withheld if you lose your ability to make those decisions. This document is also called a Health Care Directive.

A Living Will is a legal document in which you specify what end-of-life medical treatments you want and do not want. If you become seriously ill or injured and cannot communicate for yourself, your medical care providers and your family can turn to your Living Will for guidance.

*Arkansas law allows citizens to combine Medical Power of Attorney and Health Care Directives into one document, often called an Advance Health Care Directive.