Your health care agent’s responsibility can begin immediately if you wish, or you can state that their responsibility begins when your doctor determines that you are not able to make decisions for yourself. Your health care agent is the person you appoint to make medical decisions for you if you become incapacitated.

This form can then be transferred along with you from one health care environment to another.Ī durable health care power of attorney is a document that allows you to appoint someone you trust as your health care agent to make medical decisions on your behalf, in the event that you are no longer capable of making them. While these forms centralize certain information, they do not replace a living will or health care power of attorney.Ī Pennsylvania Order for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) form allows doctors to record your wishes regarding mechanical intervention, CPR and other treatments as a physician order. As a practical matter, the use of such forms is advisable because hospitals and doctors’ offices may be more familiar with the standardized forms, and therefore using these forms makes it easier for the medical professionals to follow your wishes. While your instructions for your health care in the event you are incapacitated should be recorded in your living will, they may also be recorded on a specific form, which can then be filed with health care facilities. What is a Pennsylvania Order for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST)? People who are over 65 are most likely to have a living will. Analysis of reports issued in 19 shows that the percentage of people with a living will has not moved in nearly 30 years. Only about one-quarter of all Americans have a living will. If you do not have such a trusted person, then your living will provides instructions directly to your doctors and caregivers. Even if you have a close family member whom you trust to make medical decisions for you, or whom you have appointed as your health care agent, a living will allows you to give them clear instructions regarding your wishes in specific situations. In other cases, an individual may not have a close family member who they trust to make such decisions.Ī living will addresses these uncertainties by allowing you to put your instructions regarding medical care in writing. Informal talks that you may have had with family members may not be specific enough for certain life-prolonging treatments to be given or withheld. If you are unable to communicate during a medical emergency, your loved ones need to know whether you wish to receive emergency resuscitation to restart your lungs or heart in the event you stop breathing or go into cardiac arrest. However, if you have lost the capacity to make such decisions on your own, because you are in a coma or a persistent vegetative state, then a living will becomes important. As long as you are able to communicate directly with your doctor and family members about your wishes, you can let them know what kind of treatment you do and do not want. This may include life-prolonging procedures such as intravenous feeding or mechanical respiration. You have rights regarding your own medical care, including the right to accept or reject certain medical treatment.

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