No one can predict when they’ll face a medical crisis. That’s why planning for medical decision-making is one of the most important steps an individual can take in order to be prepared for the unexpected.
To ensure that your wishes are honored and your loved ones are protected during moments of crisis, our Michigan attorneys have outlined the most important aspects of Medical Power of Attorneys and living wills.
What Is a Medical Power of Attorney in Michigan?
A Medical Power of Attorney, also called a Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care or patient advocate designation (POA), is a legally enforceable document that allows an individual (the “patient”) to appoint a trusted person (the “patient advocate”) to make medical decisions on their behalf.
Michigan law provides significant legal guidance for this type of document, including:
- How the document must be executed
- The rights and responsibilities of the patient advocate
- Requirements for acceptance of the role
- When the advocate’s authority becomes active
- Limitations on decision-making
A valid Medical Power of Attorney allows the patient advocate to make choices regarding:
- Medical treatment
- Surgical procedures
- Medication decisions
- Mental health care (when expressly authorized)
- End-of-life care
- Placement and long-term care decisions
In many cases, the patient advocate can also have authority to make other weighty decisions on behalf of the patient, such as those involving organ donation decisions or hospice care.
Recognizing the substantial authority that is given to the patient advocate in Michigan, it’s essential that your Medical Power of Attorney is executed properly and clearly reflects the patient’s wishes.
Our experienced Michigan attorneys are ready to help you with each step of establishing a Medical Power of Attorney, from explaining what’s involved with each decision to ensuring that your document is properly drafted and fully enforceable.
What Should be Included in a Michigan Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care?
Even though our attorneys have guided thousands of Michigan residents with these matters, we’ll help you receive a Medical Power of Attorney that is as unique as you are.
That includes choices and instructions about whatever is important to you, including specific aspects of what care you wish to receive, for how long, and what treatment you do not want.
However, it’s best to carefully decide your preferences regarding these main categories in advance:
Appointment of a patient advocate
Under Michigan law, your advocate must clearly be given the power to make medical decisions for you. That means the individual you choose will make weighty medical decisions for you if you become incapacitated, including decisions surrounding life-sustaining treatment.
Thus, it’s essential that your advocate be someone you trust. They should also be someone who is able to fully understand what your wishes are, and who will stand up for them when the time comes to do so.
Additionally, it is wise to appoint at least one successor advocate to protect against situations where your primary advocate is unable or unwilling to serve.
Acceptance of the patient advocate
Under Michigan law, your designated advocate must sign an acceptance, acknowledging that they accept their role and responsibilities.
Preferences related to long-term care or placement
Individuals in Michigan who are preparing a Medical Power of Attorney often wish to express whether they prefer:
- Home care
- Certain care facilities
- Oppose specific placements
Since these choices will likely affect the final years of your life, it’s important to decide what your wishes are in comparison to what your unique circumstances will realistically allow.
A statement of the patient’s values
Many choose to include personalized guidance in their Michigan Medical Power of Attorney to help their advocate make decisions on their behalf, such as:
- Religious or spiritual beliefs
- Personal quality-of-life priorities
- Views on aggressive treatment vs. comfort care
Life-prolonging medical care
Medical Powers of Attorney can include whether or not you wish to receive life-prolonging treatments at the end of life. Such procedures typically include:
- Administration of drugs
- Do Not Resuscitate orders (DNR)
- Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)
- Diagnostic tests
- Dialysis
- Surgery
- Transfusions of blood and blood products
- Use of ventilators
- Feeding tubes
- Organ donation
Food and water
Unless specified otherwise in your Medical Power of Attorney, doctors will use intravenous (IV) feeding lines or feeding tubes to provide you with a mix of nutrients and fluids.
Since patients who are unconscious can sometimes live for years with artificial feeding and hydration, decisions about when food and water are withheld will have a direct impact on when your death occurs.
For example, death occurs relatively quickly if it’s fully withheld due to dehydration while the patient is kept comfortable.
Thus, many people stipulate under what conditions or for what lengths of time artificially administered food and water is to be provided.
Palliative care (pain relief)
Instead of focusing on prolonging life, palliative care emphasizes quality of life and dignity by helping a patient remain comfortable and free from pain until life ends naturally. This care may be administered at home, in a hospice facility, or at a hospital.
Knowing what to include in your Medical Power of Attorney is essential in order to have your wishes carried out. Our attorneys will guide you through the decision stage and the drafting process to provide you with a legally enforceable document that reflects what you truly want.
What Is a Living Will in Michigan?
Michigan is one of the few states without a formal “living will” statute. Unlike a Michigan Medical Power of Attorney, a living will is not legally binding under Michigan law.
Instead, a Michigan living will provides informal instructions for treatment in the event of an emergency. These instructions outline your wishes regarding:
- Medical treatment
- Comfort care
- Pain relief
- Life-sustaining procedures if you become terminally ill, permanently unconscious, or unable to communicate
Even though a living will lacks legal authority in Michigan, it remains an important tool for three reasons:
1. It provides clear guidance to the patient advocate
A patient advocate cannot effectively represent someone’s preferences if they do not know what those preferences are. Thus, a living will helps ensure that the advocate understands the individual’s values and goals.
2. Medical providers will still consider it
Michigan hospitals and long-term care facilities frequently review living-will style statements as part of a patient’s chart. So even though the document is not legally binding, it impacts the care your providers give you.
3. It reduces family conflict
Having written instructions that outline your wishes can eliminate doubt or ambiguity, thus helping your family avoid painful disputes when adult children, spouses, and siblings disagree about care decisions.
Clearly, these documents play an important supplementary role as they guide decision-makers during critical moments. Let our Michigan living will attorneys help you draft one that accurately and clearly conveys your wishes.
What Is the Difference Between a Living Will and a Medical Power of Attorney?
While both documents relate to medical decision-making, living wills and Medical Powers of Attorney serve fundamentally different functions in Michigan planning.
This is because a living will describes what the patient wants, while the Medical Power of Attorney legally empowers someone to carry a person’s wishes out.
Our Michigan living will lawyers have outlined the most important differences between these two documents below.
A living will:
- Expresses the individual’s wishes regarding medical treatment
- Does not appoint anyone to make decisions
- Serves as guidance to the patient advocate and medical team
- Is not legally mandated or recognized by a specific Michigan statute
A Medical Power of Attorney:
- Controls actual medical decisions when the patient cannot
- Appoints a decision-maker (the patient advocate)
- Becomes effective only when two physicians or a physician and psychologist determine the patient is unable to participate in decisions
- Is legally enforceable under Michigan law
Our Michigan living will attorneys recommend that both documents be drafted together to avoid gaps in direction, confusion, or inconsistent instructions. Let us take a holistic approach to planning that ensures your wishes are fully honored when you need them to be.
Does a Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care Override a Living Will in Michigan?
Michigan law gives legal authority to a properly executed Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care, whereas Michigan has no statute giving legal force to a living will. Thus, a Medical Power of Attorney overrides a living will in Michigan when the two provide differing direction.
However, most well-drafted Durable Powers of Attorney for Health Care incorporate the individual’s preferences so that conflict is avoided. This may be written in a living will or elsewhere.
The best practice is:
- Prepare a detailed Medical Power of Attorney
- Prepare a living will
- Ensure both documents align
- Provide copies to the patient advocate and health-care team
When both documents are properly coordinated by our Michigan living will lawyers, the patient advocate can make decisions that are consistent with your stated wishes.
What Should Be Included in a Michigan Living Will
Although not governed by any Michigan statutes, a living will can still influence the choices your family and your medical providers make. Thus, a Michigan living will should be carefully and intentionally drafted.
Common living will contents include:
When the document should apply
At times, an individual may only want a specific type of care when they’re facing certain scenarios. This may include when the patient:
- Has a terminal illness
- Is in an irreversible coma
- Is in a persistent vegetative state
- Has advanced dementia
Instructions on life-sustaining treatment
People often specify when they do or do not want:
- Artificial ventilation
- CPR
- Kidney dialysis
- Tube feeding
- Hydration
- Antibiotics
Additional preferences
Examples may include:
- Preference to die at home
- Directions regarding visitors
- Pain and comfort preferences
- Instructions regarding organ donation
- Religious or cultural guidance, including customs related to end-of-life care
It’s important to note that living wills work best when drafted in tandem with your patient advocate. This allows them to ask questions and fully understand the written instructions you provide for them.
Let our Michigan living will attorneys coordinate everything needed, thus ensuring your wishes and legacy are fully honored by your patient advocate.
How to Create a Michigan Living Will and Medical Power of Attorney
Michigan has specific legal requirements for Medical Powers of Attorney. These include that the document:
- Is in writing
- Is signed by the individual
- Is signed by two witnesses (not including the advocate, the doctor, or certain disqualified persons)
- Expresses authority for end-of-life decisions if those powers are intended
- Acceptance signed by the patient advocate
Living wills, however, do not have legal requirements guiding them. But to ensure they serve their purpose, they should be:
- Written
- Clear
- Consistent with the Medical Power of Attorney
- Shared with family and physicians
Once written, the patient keeps the original documents, with copies provided to the patient advocate, successor advocates, physicians, and hospitals.
Many Michigan residents store their documents in electronic medical record portals, while others choose to use national registries that allow hospitals to access.
But no matter where they are kept, both documents should be easily accessible in emergencies.
Our experienced Michigan living will attorneys provide you with crucial guidance to ensure both documents reflect your wishes while also ensuring full compliance with all legal requirements.
Updating or Revoking Michigan Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care and Living Wills
While many breathe a sigh of relief after completing their living will and Medical Power of Attorney, the work may not be over. This is because these documents reflect your wishes and desires regarding medical treatment at the time they were drafted.
However, there may be changes later on in life regarding what medical treatment you want if you become incapacitated, as well as who you want serving as your patient advocate.
Thus, Michigan living wills and Medical Powers of Attorneys should be updated when:
- A marriage begins or ends
- A partner or spouse dies
- A new diagnosis changes care preferences
- A patient advocate becomes unsuitable
- The individual’s views on life-sustaining treatment change
In Michigan, living wills can be rewritten or destroyed whenever the patient chooses, while Medical Powers of Attorney can be revoked at any time by notifying the advocate in writing.
Our Michigan living wills attorneys are ready to help you with any modifications or revocations, ensuring your planning needs remain up to date and according to your wishes.
Michigan Living Will Attorneys with Over a Century of Combined Experience
In our 100+ years of combined legal experience, our Michigan attorneys at Mall Malisow & Cooney have handled countless living wills and Medical Powers of Attorney for Michigan individuals just like you.
As a result, we’re ready to provide you with properly-executed planning that ensures your living will and your Medical Power of Attorney will work together in order to accurately reflect your wishes and goals.
Contact Our Michigan Living Will Attorneys Today
When living wills and Medical Powers of Attorney harmonize, Michigan families experience significantly less stress during medical emergencies and can focus on supporting their loved ones.
Get help drafting these documents to ensure they reflect your wishes while meeting all requirements from our trustworthy Michigan living will attorneys at Mall Malisow & Cooney.
Call us today at 248-538-1800, or fill out our contact form.