Planning in Advance for Your Medical Treatment
Montefiore Einstein recognizes a patient’s right to make healthcare decisions and to formulate an oral or written advance directive, such as a health care proxy or a living will. Your care at Montefiore Einstein will not be conditioned, nor will you be discriminated against, by your decision to either execute or not execute an advance directive.
Proxy and living will forms (download Acrobat Reader) for free to read these forms):
Your Right To Decide About Treatment
Adults in New York State have the right to accept or refuse medical care, including life-sustaining treatment. Our Constitution and state laws protect this right. This means that you have the right to request or consent to treatment, to refuse treatment before it has started, and to have treatment stopped once it has begun.
Planning in Advance
Sometimes, because of illness or injury, people are unable to talk to a doctor and decide about treatment for themselves. You may wish to plan in advance to make sure that your wishes about treatment are followed if you become unable to decide for yourself temporarily or for a long time. If you don't plan ahead, family members or other people close to you may not be allowed to make decisions for you and follow your wishes.
In New York State, appointing someone you can trust to decide about treatment, if you become unable to decide for yourself, is the best way to protect your treatment wishes and concerns. You have the right to appoint someone by filling out a health care proxy. You can download a health care proxy form here.
If you have no one you can appoint to decide for you—or do not want to appoint anyone—you can also give specific instructions about treatment in advance. Those instructions can be written, and are often referred to as a living will. You can download one here.
You should understand that general instructions about refusing treatment, even if written down, may not be effective. Your instructions must clearly cover the treatment decisions that must be made. For example, just writing down that you do not want the “heroic measures” may not be specific enough. You should say the kind of treatment that you do not want, such as a respirator or chemotherapy, and describe the medical condition at which you would refuse the treatment, such as when you are terminally ill or permanently unconscious with no hope of recovering. You can also give instructions orally by discussing your treatment wishes with your doctor, family members or others close to you.
Putting things in writing is safer than simply speaking to people, but neither method is as effective as appointing someone to decide for you. It is often hard for people to know in advance what will happen to them or what their medical needs will be in the future. If you appoint someone to make decisions for you, that person can talk to your doctor and make decisions that they believe you would have wanted or that are best for you, when needed. If you appoint someone and also leave instructions about treatment in a living will—in the space provided on the health care proxy form itself, or in some other manner—the person you select can use these instructions as guidance to make the right decision for you.
Deciding About Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation
You also have the right to decide about cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), an emergency treatment to restart the heart and lungs when your breathing or circulation stops.
Sometimes doctors and patients decide in advance that CPR should not be provided, and the doctor gives the medical staff an order not to resuscitate (DNR order). If your physical or mental condition prevents you from deciding whether CPR should be administered, someone you appoint—a family member or a close friend—can make that decision for you. A brochure on CPR and your rights under New York State law is available from your healthcare provider. Inpatients can find this material, along with the patient guide, in their bedside table.