Connecticut law allows any competent adult may execute a document directing that life-sustaining procedures be withheld or withdrawn. Living will, power of attorney for health care
|
Legal Document Preparation Service |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Connecticut Statutes (Ch. 368w): It is not mandatory that you have health care directive, however it is highly recommended. Without advance directive you can not communicate your wishes to the doctor |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||
|
|||||||||
|
In Connecticut both a Living will and a Health Care Power of attorney are called an Advance Health Care Directive. Connecticut law allows you to execute either a Living Will or a Health Care Power of attorney, OR both of these documents. A “Power of Attorney for Health Care” is an important legal document. It gives your Agent broad powers to make health care decisions for you, including withdrawal of a feeding tube and artificial hydration. Your Agent (health care attorney in fact) must make decisions for you in accordance with your wishes known to the Agent. Please note that neither your Health Care Agent nor your alternate Health Care Agent can be your health care provider or employee of a health care facility where you are a patient, or a spouse of any of those persons, unless she or he is also your relative. Your Health Care Agent may not consent to experimental mental health research or psychosurgery, electroconvulsive treatment or drastic mental health treatment procedures for you. Your Agent shall have the same access to your medical records that you have, including the right to disclose the contents to others, to request, receive and review verbal and written information regarding your personal affairs or physical or mental health including medical and hospital records. In this Power of Attorney form you may appoint an alternate Health Care Agent in case your primary Health Care Agent is not willing to or unable to act. You may authorize your Agent to make anatomical gifts, authorize an autopsy, and direct disposition of your remains. A “Living Will” (also called a Document) concerning health care instructions and withholding or withdrawal of life support systems) allows you to express your desires regarding withdrawal of life supporting measures in case you are unable to communicate them to the world due to your medical conditions. By signing a Living Will now you will make known whether you want to be artificially fed/receive water through a tube; whether you want cardiac resuscitation, kidney dialysis, artificial respiration, etc. You may also make a provision regarding a disposition of your organs after your death. In your Connecticut Living Will you do not appoint an agent for making health care decisions for you. Before you start working on your Health Care Directive you shall know the following important definitions. All references made to Connecticut Statutes. A life support system is any medical procedure or intervention which, when applied to an individual, would serve only to postpone the moment of death or maintain the individual in a state of permanent unconsciousness. In these circumstances, such procedures include, but are not limited to, mechanical or electronic devices including artificial means of providing nutrition or hydration. A terminal condition is the final stage of an incurable or irreversible medical condition which, without the administration of a life support system, will result in death within a relatively short time, in the opinion of the attending physician. Permanently unconscious is when a person is in a permanent coma and persistent vegetative state and is an irreversible condition in which the individual is at no time aware of himself or the environment and shows no behavioral response to the environment; Incapacitated is being unable to understand and appreciate the nature and consequences of health care decisions, including the benefits and disadvantages of such treatment, and to reach and communicate an informed decision regarding the treatment. Witnesses: To be valid your health care directive must be signed by two witnesses. For persons who reside in facilities operated or licensed by the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, at least one witness must be an individual who is not affiliated with the facility and at least one witness must be a physician or clinical psychologist with specialized training in treating mental illness. For persons who reside in facilities operated or licensed by the Department of Mental Retardation, at least one witness must be an individual who is not affiliated with the facility and at least one witness must be a physician or clinical psychologist with specialized training in developmental disabilities. You do not have to acknowledge your Living Will in front of a notary public, however acknowledgement is desirable. You can also use your Health Care Power of attorney to nominate the person you would want to appoint as a conservator of your person. A conservator of the person is someone appointed by the Court when the Court finds a person incapable of caring for himself/herself. The conservator has responsibility for the general custody and care of the individual and may give consent for medical care, treatment and services. If you have a conservator appointed to you, he or she will be consulted for all medical decisions; however, the conservator’s consent is not required to carry out your wishes as expressed in the Connecticut Health Care Instructions. You may freely revoke the Connecticut Advance Health Care Directive at any time; just make sure your primary physician knows of the revocation. The appointment of the principal's spouse as health care representative shall be revoked upon the divorce or legal separation of the principal and spouse or upon the annulment or dissolution of their marriage, unless the principal specifies otherwise. |
|||||||||
| * * * | |||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||