The Power of an Advance Directive

By Patricia L. Nelson

 Like many states, Oregon has an Advance Directive form.  This form allows you to name a person to make health care decisions for you if you are ill and unable to communicate your choices by any means.  The person you name is called your Healthcare Representative.  In your Advance Directive, you may name a primary and an alternate (or two or three) Healthcare Representatives. The Advance Directive also allows you to tell your Healthcare Representatives what life support you would like and what life support you would not like to have.

 Why is an Advance Directive important?  In the absence of an Advance Directive, no one legally has the authority to make healthcare decisions for you.  As a result, we may need to go to court to have a guardian appointed for you. The difficulty with a guardianship is that it is expensive and time consuming, at a time when you are in a medical crisis.

 Additional limitations with a guardianship are that we don’t know whom you would have named to be in charge of these important decisions, had you completed an Advance Directive.  Also, we don’t know what choices you would have made about which life support measures you want and do not want. Generally speaking, in the absence of that guidance from you, a guardian will likely err on the side of giving you life support you may not have wanted.

 So, complete your Advance Directive to ensure these difficulties are avoided.

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