Advance Planning With Health Care Forms

Planning for the future means planning future medical care or treatment. Advance planning helps ensure that health care providers respect your patient rights and wishes. For example, you may want life-sustaining treatment if you can't breathe on your own. Or you may want to appoint a trusted friend or family member to make health care decisions for you if you become incapacitated.

Health care forms can help you with your advance planning. They will help you express your wishes for medical treatment and identify your health care proxy. For example, a living will allows you to decide about your medical care should you become incapacitated. If you're interested in creating a living will, hiring a health care attorney, applying for Medicare, or making a long-term health care plan, this FindLaw article can help you.

Patient Rights

Although we do not have a national patient bill of rights, many health care facilities will provide patients with copies of forms and documents. These health care facilities often use the American Medical Association's sample Patient Bill of Rights. A Patient Bill of Rights often addresses the following issues:

1. Informed consent
2. The right to refuse treatment
3. The right to get copies of your medical records
4. The right to get complete information from your physician on your medical condition
5. The right to respectful care includes freedom from discrimination based on the following:
   • Age
   • Race
   • National origin
   • Gender identity
   • Sexual orientation
   • Religion
   • Marital status
6. The right to privacy and confidentiality

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)

Federal laws like the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) give you rights over your health information. HIPAA's Privacy Rule ensures you can determine who can access your patient information. For example, you can allow a caregiver as your patient representative and view your patient information. The Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Patient Guide to the HIPAA Privacy Rule offers more information.

The Security Rule ensures security for your health records. The Security Rule requires the maintenance of reasonable and appropriate safeguards for protecting electronic and protected health information.

These rules and laws apply uniformly in the context of health care. Your financial status has no bearing on your patient rights. These rights apply to those with regular health insurance and those with Medicaid or Medicare.

Health Care Forms

You have many options to source the forms you need. Some are free; others are not free. The following list includes forms for sale that are specific to your state. It also includes sample forms for the following:

• Living wills
• Powers of attorney

This list is no substitute for legal counsel. You should consult an attorney to ensure your document meets local requirements under your state's laws.

• Living Wills and Health Care Directives: State Forms — State-specific forms to draft a living will or health care directive. The exact forms will vary by state, but either allows you to detail your medical care and end-of-life preferences (for purchase from FindLaw).
• Power of Attorney: State Forms — State-specific forms to draft a power of attorney for financial and health care matters. It includes state-specific legal summaries of the laws and requirements for each form (for purchase from FindLaw).
• Personal Planning Package: State Forms — These state-specific packages contain forms for drafting a will, living will (and/or health care directive), power of attorney, and, depending on the state, other documents (for purchase from FindLaw).
• Jewish Law — Halachic Forms—This is a List of state-specific halachic living will forms, including instructions, provided in conjunction with the New York Legal Assistance Group (Agudath Israel of America).
• Advance Directives and Living Wills: State-Specific Forms — State-specific links to forms, instructions, and other resources for drafting an advanced directive or living will (FindLaw).

More information on Health Care Forms

Health Care Power of Attorney — Allows you to name a "health care representative" (a trusted person) to make essential but limited health care decisions on your behalf (FindLaw).

Living Will — Used to help patients detail decisions about their medical care in writing before the need for treatment arises. It is often used by medical staff if the patient can't communicate their medical care preferences (FindLaw). This can include instructions for the following:

• Interventions
• Patient care
• Care services

Hiring a Lawyer

If you need to hire an attorney because your health care provider did not honor your wishes as contained in a living will or a power of attorney, you must give this attorney background information. You may have to give the following details from your encounter to the attorney:

1. Information on your medical condition
2. Copies of your advance directives
3. Contact information for the facility or health care provider
4. A copy of your health plan
5. A copy of your discharge plan

Legal Forms

• Intake Form: Illness & Hospitalization — Sample intake form inquiring about illnesses and hospitalizations. Your attorney will need this information if you're suing a doctor, hospital staff, or other entity related to a medical claim (FindLaw).
• Documents for Your Attorney: Illness and Hospitalization — Handy checklist of the various documents about illnesses and hospitalizations that your attorney may need in case of a lawsuit (FindLaw).

Get Legal Help

Advance planning can be an overwhelming experience. A qualified health care attorney can help. They can help you plan for your future care and draft advance directives. Speak to an experienced health care attorney.

Long-Term Health Care

• Nursing Home Checklist — A list of questions to consider when deciding whether to place a loved one in a nursing home, such as certifications, waiting lists, abuse-prevention programs, and more (FindLaw).

Guardianship

• Being a Guardian: Documents to Gather — List of standard documents you'll need to collect, such as wills and property deeds, if you're the guardian of an elderly relative (FindLaw).
• Selected State Guardianship Forms — State-specific forms and resources about guardianship laws (FindLaw).