New Model Proxy Advance Directive Form and Guide

The ABA Commission on Law and Aging has released a new free booklet offering a simple durable power of attorney for health care, designed to meet the legal requirements in nearly all states. Giving Someone a Power of Attorney for Your Health Care: A Guide with an Easy-to-Use Legal Form for All Adults can be described as “bare bones” because it doesn’t provide specific instructions about medical treatments, as most standardized health care advance directive forms do. Instead, it provides solely for the appointment of a health care agent with broad health-care decision-making authority.   

A premise of the publication is that the guidance one gives an agent more effectively comes from having focused conversations with the agent and loved ones over time. There are a growing number of guides available on how to have those discussions and clarify one’s values and treatment goals, which, in fact, will change over time as one’s health and level of functioning change.