Advance Directives for Health Care
Advance planning for medical care or refusal of treatment in emergency or life-or-death
situations is an important way to ensure that a patient's wishes are followed. Most
states have their own legal forms to enable individuals to make certain healthcare
decisions in advance.
Georgia's new form, the "Georgia Advance Directive for Health Care," combines forms
that were previously separate in state law (the Statutory Health Care Power of Attorney
Form and the Living Will). Using this form, an individual in Georgia can appoint a
health care agent to make decisions for him when the patient is unable to make decisions
himself. The form also allows an individual to state treatment preferences in event
of a terminal condition or a state of permanent unconsciousness; and to nominate a
person to serve as the individual's guardian should one ever be needed. The form requires
the signatures of the individual (patient) and two witnesses. After completing the
form, individuals should give a copy to the people who may need to use it: the health
care agent, family members, selected guardian, and patient's physician.