Living Will and Power of Attorney for Healthcare

Living Will and Power of Attorney for Healthcare

End of Life Health Care

A Living Will is a document which directs whether or not you want life-sustaining support should you become terminally ill or permanently unconscious. The living will becomes effective only when you cannot communicate. Only you can change a living will or revoke it anytime; no one else can.

A Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care authorizes someone of your choosing to have access to your healthcare information and to act on your behalf if you cannot. The person you so name can inform your attending physician that you have a living will and to act on it, they cannot overrule your living will directives.

Your power attorney for healthcare may name more than one person to act on your behalf in decisions related to your healthcare, such as naming a secondary person in case the first person named is unavailable.

Do Not Resuscitate Orders are issued by the state and require your physician’s signature on the application which may be found here.

https:// www.odh.ohio.gov/pdf/forms/dnrfrm.pdf

Considerations to discuss with a professional when considering these end-of-life healthcare options include but are not limited to whether you would want:

* chest compressions

* electric shock

* artificial breathing, and/or

* special drugs</p>

to be made available when you experience a healthcare emergency such as:

 * cardiac arrest

* pulmonary arrest