Advanced Directives

Advanced Directives. A competent person, of legal age, has the right to accept or refuse medical or surgical treatment. In general, an individual has the right to make health care decisions for himself/herself. Generally, if you are a competent adult, you can consent to any treatment of care which will become effective if the individual is no longer competent to make treatment decisions. These instructions are commonly referred to as "Advance Directives." A. The State Veterans Affairs Board will provide a copy of its advanced directives policy to all applicants, for admission to a SVNH, as part of the application package. B. All SVNH social workers will provide the resident or personal representative with written information concerning advanced directives and rights under law and on the facility's policies regarding advanced directives and refusal of medical treatment. C. An Advanced Directive can be a LIVING WILL, A DURABLE POWER OF ATTORNEY FOR HEALTH CARE, or other evidence of the individual's wishes concerning health care decisions. (1) A Living Will is a directive to be allowed to die naturally. The Living Will comes into play only when the attending physician, along with two (2) other physicians, believes that the individual will not regain consciousness or a state of health that is meaningful to the individual and but for the use of life -sustaining mechanisms, the individual would soon die. (2) A Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care (DPAHC) is a document where an individual designates someone as their agent to make health care decisions for them if they are unable to make such a decision. The DPAHC comes into play when the individual cannot make a health care decision either because of a permanent or temporary illness or injury. The DPAHC must specifically authorize the individual's attorney in fact to make health care decisions for the individual and must contain the standard language set out in the law. Otherwise, the DPAHC can contain any instruction which the individual wishes. (3) Decisions to accept or refuse treatment, internal nutrition via feeding tubes or gastric devices, and/or artificial hydration rest with the resident or appropriate legal representative. The SVNH and employees have no official opinion on the care and treatment decisions of the individual residents. (4) It is the policy of MSVA to follow the directions given by each resident with regard to accepting or refusing treatment to the extent permitted by law and within State Veterans Affairs Board policy. (5) No individual shall be discriminated against or have care conditioned on whether the individual has executed any advance directive.