Keywords: Health Care Proxy; Health Care Directive/Declaration; Living Will; Elder Law; Estates and Trusts; Estate Planning; Medical Directive; Medical Power of Attorney; Appointment of a Health Care Surrogate; or Attorney-in-Fact.

What is a medical directive? What is a living will? What is a Health Care Proxy? For all intents and purposes each seeks to provide the same end result. Each is a writing in which you can state your wishes in the event that you are unable to communicate with your loved ones and/or doctors to tell them what medical treatment you wish to be administered . The typical contents of a Living Will should define/specify:

• What you deem to be health care or medical treatment
• Your definition of quality of life
• Your wishes with regard to pain management
• Your wishes with regard to artificial hydration and nutrition
• When to use CPR and when not to resuscitate (DNR)
• When to use or remove artificial respiration

What is Health Care or Medical Treatment?

In New York, the Public Health Law gives guidance as to what is health care and who is a health care provider. In essence, a health care provider is a doctor, nurse, paramedic or facility to provide health care such as a hospital. And, medical treatment is is the care and treatment of your mind and body rendered by a health care provider using, any drug, mechanical device, surgery, hormone, organ replacement or substitution.

Section 2980.4. of the Public Health Law (PHL) says: "Health care" means any treatment, service or procedure to diagnose or treat an individual's physical or mental condition.

PHL Section 2980.6. says: "Health care decision" means any decision to consent or refuse to consent to health care.

PHL Section 2980.7. says: "Health care provider" means an individual or facility licensed, certified, or otherwise authorized or permitted by law to administer health care in the ordinary course of business or professional practice.

PHL Section 2801 defines various kinds of health care facilities such as hospitals, nursing homes, residential health care facility, health-related service facility or out-patient lodge.

The complete statute referring to health care proxies and living wills can be found here.

Defining quality of life

These are the conditions under which we are prepared to continue living and those under which we deem life not worth living. Clearly, this is quite controversial. However, as much as I love life, I am not prepared to continue living if that means that I will exhaust the monetary resources of my loved ones, or so drastically restructure their lives so that I become the sole focus of their activities, or I am no longer aware of my surroundings and my loved ones or I can only survive on various life support devices such as artificial respiration, tube feeding. Under those conditions. I deem any efforts to sustain that quality of life not worthy.

The other criteria will be discussed in future articles.