2021 Advanced Directive Form

by Patricia Louise Nelson

In September of 2021, the State of Oregon implemented a new Advance Directive form. This new form is quite different from previous Advance Directive forms here in Oregon. Page one of the new form is instructions. The document is broken into sections by number and subsections by letters.  Section 1 on page 2 is where you list your name and all of your contact information.  Section 2, which is also on page 2, is where you provide the names and full contact information for your Healthcare Representative and all alternates.

Section 3, starting on page 3 is where the 2021 form begins to be different from earlier forms.  Subsection A, on pages 3 and 4, discusses three conditions in which you could find yourself. The first one is Terminal Condition. It requires that you have an illness that cannot be cured or reversed, and your health care providers believe it will result in your death within six months.  

The second condition is Advanced Progressive Illness, which requires that you have an illness that is in an advanced stage, that your health care providers believe it will not improve and is very likely to get worse over time and result in death, and your health care providers believe that you will never be able to (1) communicate, (2) swallow food and water safely, (3) care for yourself, and (4) recognize your family and other people.  If you meet all of those requirements, you are considered to have an Advanced Progressive Illness under the Advance Directive.

The third condition is Permanently Unconscious.  To be Permanently Unconscious, you must not be conscious and your health care providers must believe it is very unlikely that you will ever become conscious again.

In each of these three conditions, the 2021 Oregon Advance Directive form gives you four choices. The four choices are the same for each of the three conditions. The first choice is that you want to try all available treatments to sustain your life, including artificial feeding and hydration with feeding tubes, IV fluids, kidney dialysis, and breathing machines.  The second choice is that you want to try to sustain your life only with artificial feeding and hydration with feeding tubes and IV fluids but not other treatments. The third choice is that you do not want any life sustaining treatment; that you want to be kept comfortable and be allowed to die naturally. And the fourth choice is that you want your Healthcare Representative to make the decision for you.