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| Definitions | |
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- Advance Directive
- A document in which a person makes provision for health care decisions in the event that, in the future, he/she becomes unable to make and/or communicate those decisions. Examples of Advance Directives include Living Wills, Health Care (Medical) Powers of Attorney, and other directives.
Click here to view or download a living will blank form and other examples of Advance Directive documents
- Agent
- An adult who has the authority through a Health Care (Medical) Power of Attorney or through law to make health care treatment decisions for another person, referred to as the principal. Any authorized surrogate is the patient's Agent.
- Artificial nutrition and hydration
- When food and water are fed to a person through a tube, such as an intravenous tube (IV) or a feeding tube placed in the stomach.
- Best Interest
- When the person's "probable wishes" are unknown, the surrogate has an obligation to do what seems best for the person; e.g. what is in the "best interests" of the patient.
- Comfort care
- Care that helps to keep a person comfortable. Bathing, turning and keeping a person's lips moist are types of comfort care.
CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation)
Treatment to try to restart a person's breathing or heartbeat. CPR may be done by pushing on the chest, by putting a tube down the throat or by other treatment.
- Guardian
- A person appointed by a court of law for the express purpose of making health care treatment decisions on behalf of a patient who is unable to do so. Obtaining a legal guardianship usually takes time and may be costly.
- Health Care (Medical) Power of Attorney (MPOA)
- A written designation of an agent (surrogate) to make health care decisions while the person is unable to do so. When signed by the person writing the directive, the document is witnessed or notarized by at least one adult who is not related to the principal by blood, marriage, or adoption; not a beneficiary in the principal's estate, and is not providing health care to the person.
Click here to view or download an example of a Health Care (Medical) Power of Attorney and a living will blank form.
- Life-sustaining treatment
- Any medical treatment that is used to keep a person from dying. A breathing machine, CPR, and artificial nutrition and hydration are examples of life-sustaining treatments.
- Living Will
- The Living Will blank form is a particular form of Advance Directive intended to guide or control the health care treatment decisions that can be made on a person's behalf. A Living Will often includes the phrase, "if I am in a terminal condition", and therefore limits its applicability.
Click here to view or download a living will blank form.
- Organ and tissue donation
- When a person permits his/her organs (such as the eyes or kidneys) and other parts of the body (such as the skin) to be removed after death to be transplanted for use by another person or to be used for experimental purposes.
- Persistent vegetative state
- When a person is unconscious with no real hope of regaining consciousness even with medical treatment. The body may move and the eyes may be open, but as far as anyone can tell, the person can't think or respond.
- Principal
- The person who designates a Health Care (Medical) Power of Attorney or other Advance Directive such as a living will blank form.
- Substituted Judgment
- A decision about medical interventions that the person would most likely make if he/she were able to communicate with the health care team. This is sometimes called the "probable wishes" standard. (See Best Interests)
- Surrogate
- A person authorized to make health care decisions for a patient in the following order of authority:
- Guardian
- Health Care (Medical) Power of Attorney
- Surrogate
- The patient's spouse, unless legally separated
- An adult child of the patient, or a majority of adult children
- A parent of the patient
- The patient's domestic partner if the patient is unmarried
- A brother or sister of the patent
- A close friend of the patient (an adult who has shown special concern for the patient, is familiar with the patient's desires and who is willing and able to become involved in the patient's health care, acting in the patient's best interests.)
- The patient's physician, when none of the above persons can be located. The physician may make health care decisions after consulting with the institutional ethics committee, or with a second physician if an ethics committee is unavailable.
- Terminal condition
- An ongoing condition caused by injury or illness that has no cure and from which doctors expect the person to die even with medical treatment. Life-sustaining treatments will only prolong the dying process if the person is suffering from a terminal condition.