Legal Brief for March, 2010

Personal Directives

As a follow up to the February Legal Brief on Enduring Powers of Attorney, this month's Brief will review the document known as a Personal Directive (previously known as a "living will").  

The medical profession operates on the basis that they must have the "informed consent" of their patients before they can proceed with any treatments or procedures.  If for example a person has suffered a debilitating stroke or has developed a condition such as Alzheimer's, and is unable to answer for themselves or to respond logically to any questions, then it obviously becomes difficult for a doctor to obtain that person's consent.  A Personal Directive is a document that allows a person to appoint someone else (known in the document as an "Agent") to make those decisions for them - to consent on their behalf to whatever medical and health care procedures the doctors may recommend or suggest.  

As in the case of an Enduring Power of Attorney, a Personal Directive is signed now but does not take effect unless or until the person who signed it becomes incapacitated.  Since medical conditions can sometimes be temporary, the Directive stays in effect only as long as the maker is incapacitated.  If they recover from their situation, then they resume control of their own decisions.  

In addition to providing someone else with authority to make decisions for them, a person can also include "guideline instructions" in a Personal Directive.  These provisions indicate to their Agent how they would like certain situations to be handled.  The most common instruction that people include in a Directive is that they do not wish to be kept alive by artificial respiration when they are in a coma or a vegetative state and there is no possible hope of them regaining consciousness.  Additional personal instructions can be included as desired by the maker of the document.  

Personal Directives are sometimes thought of as something that you only need as you get older.  However, they are important for any adult to consider having, given that ill health or injury can strike at any stage of a person's life.  One of the first questions that a person, regardless of their age, will be asked if they are ever admitted to a hospital for treatment is: "do you have a Personal Directive?"

For more information on Personal Directives, please go to the Client Services section of this website, and click on the appropriate link for this item.