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Advance Directive for Health Care Form - Alabama
An Alabama Advance Directive is a crucial form that allows of-age individuals to have legal control over their medical treatment in the event they are unable to speak for themselves. When a patient does not have their wishes about the kinds of medical treatment they do or do not want to receive specified, these decisions can be placed in the hands of family members, doctors, or even judges, who may know very little about what the patient prefers. Download a ready-made directive through the link below or make your own form with our customizable template.
The document provides an efficient and flexible format for planning out future health care and gives patients the option of electing a trusted individual or health professional to oversee their care. There is a difference between an Alabama Advance Directive for Health Care and an Alabama Living Will. The former are oral or written instructions about future medical care in case the individual becomes too ill to communicate. The latter is a specific type of directive that takes effect only when the patient is terminally ill. This document gives directives about your wishes to have life-sustaining efforts.
An Alabama Advance Directive is defined and regulated by Section 22-8A-4 of the Code of Alabama . If made in writing, it must be dated and signed by the person making the directive in the presence of two (2) witnesses at least 19 years of age.
What Is an Alabama Advance Directive?
An Advance Directive is a form that lists an individual's preferences for medical care and grants a spouse, child, family member, friend or attorney the authority to make decisions regarding health care on the individual's behalf. The document includes two separate parts:
- A Medical Power of Attorney - also known as a Health Care Power of Attorney or a Health Care Proxy - in which the individual elects a person to make medical decisions when they are unable to do so due to being terminally ill, seriously injured, in a coma or near the end of life.
- A Living Will - a written, legal document that lists an individual's wishes regarding life-sustaining procedures, pain management or organ donation. It takes effect when the patient is terminally ill.
How to Write an Advance Directive in Alabama?
Creating an Advance Care Directive in Alabama usually features the following steps:
- Learn the necessary components of the document. Consider including a Living Will to express end-of-life medical preferences. Designate a healthcare proxy - or agent - using a healthcare power of attorney.
- Get the required paperwork and begin filling out your form.
- Determine your wishes on CPR, breathing tubes, feeding tubes, surgeries, kidney dialysis, and organ donation.
- Discuss your wishes with your partner, family, friends and healthcare providers to make sure your plans are known to them ahead of time.
- Hand copies of the certified and signed form to your healthcare proxy and doctors. Keep the original in an obvious easy-to-find place with your other paperwork and keep more copies handy.
Download Advance Directive for Health Care Form - Alabama
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