Health Care Documents
Advance Directives for Health Care
Advance Directives for Health Care
In General
There are a variety of situations in which other people may make decisions for you.
Elder Law includes a wide range of subjects, including matters relating to Medicaid, including asset protection, Medicaid spend down, look back periods, avoiding or dealing with disqualification for Medicaid, and planning for a situation where one spouse needs to enter long term care, but the other may be able to remain in the home.
Some people mistakenly believe that once a Power of Attorney has been signed, the person who signed the Power of Attorney is protected against undue influence.
This is, quite simply, wrong.
Sometimes even entities that should know better, such as health insurance companies, are confused by Powers of Attorney and Advance Directives for Health Care.
Advance Directives for Health Care, in contrast to POLSTs (Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment - see earlier article), are used to provide information and authority to substitute decision makers who are operating in a less urgent situation.
POLSTs (Physician’s Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment) and Advance Directives for Health Care are often confused.
No document constructed by humans can perfectly resolve all future conflicts.
However, if you are living together, but are not married, a formal Domestic Partnership Agreement can give a great deal of predictability to the eventual dissolution of the relationship.
Although Oregon Advance Directives for Health Care (called Living Wills in some other states) must be in the form prescribed in Oregon Revised Statute (ORS) 127.531, there are two places in that form where special conditions or limitations can be inserted.
Oregon Advance Directives for Health Care (called Living Wills in some other states) must be in the form prescribed in Oregon Revised Statute (ORS) 127.531.