Advance Directives for Healthcare
- What Decisions Can I Make?
- Who Can I Make My Agent?
- Is my Living Will and Durable Power of Attorney for Healthcare Still Effective?
The Georgia Advance Directives for Healthcare is a document that allows Georgians to choose the medical decisions they want in case they are incapacitated and unable to state those decisions for themselves.
What Decisions Can I Make?
The Georgia Advance Directives for Healthcare is particularly broad in allowing you to make decisions about your care. These decisions include the type of treatments desired, whether to withhold life support and outside nutrition, and what is to be done with your remains.
In making these wishes, the person should designate a person, known as the healthcare agent, in charge of making sure it get carried out and who could make decisions in case the Georgia Advance Directives for Healthcare is ambiguous in any way.
Part One: allows an agent to be appointed to carry out health care decisions (formerly the Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care)
Part Two: allows choices about withholding or withdrawing life support and accepting or refusing nutrition and/or hydration (formerly the Living Will)
Part Three: allows one to nominate someone to be appointed as Guardian if a court determines that a guardian is necessary.
Who Can I Make My Agent?
In short, you can choose anyone to be your Agent. There is no requirement that the healthcare agent be related to you. It can be a friend, neighbor, or loved one. For unmarried couples, designating your life partner or significant other as Agent is a way to make sure that person is in charge or actively involved in making healthcare decisions instead of the biological family.
Is my Living Will and Durable Power of Attorney for Healthcare Still Effective?
Effective July 2007, The Georgia Advance Directives for Healthcare replaced previous Georgia laws on the Living Will and the Durable Power of Attorney for Healthcare by, in effect, combining them into one document. However, any validly executed Living Will created between March 28, 1986 and June 30, 2007 will remain valid until it is revoked. Also, any validly executed Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care created before June 30, 2007 will remain valid until it is revoked.
By completing a new Georgia Advance Directive for Healthcare, it will replace any other Advance Directive for Healthcare, Durable Power of Attorney for Healthcare, Healthcare Proxy, or Living Will that currently is in place.
If you have any questions about whether your documents are still valid, contact a Georgia estate planning attorney.
Contact Us
If you need assistance creating your Georgia Advance Directives for Healthcare and understanding what is in your document, feel free to contact our office.
If you have any questions or would like to get started, call our office at (404) 939-7562 or contact us online for a free consultation.
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