Advance Directives
Good Shepherd continues its long tradition of commitment to community health and welfare by making healthcare information available so that patients and their families can make informed decisions about their healthcare before the need arises. Additional information may be obtained from your physician or nurse.
Individuals usually make decisions regarding their healthcare treatment after their physician recommends a course of treatment and provides information about the treatment. These decisions may become more difficult, however, if a patient becomes unable to tell their doctors and loved ones what kind of healthcare treatment they want. Through documents known as advance directives, individuals can express their treatment preferences before they actually need such care, ensuring that their wishes will be carried out and that their families and others will not be faced with making these difficult decisions.
Managing the storage and retrieval of advance directives has historically been problematic for healthcare providers because the information is oftentimes not current and/or the document is not easy to locate by patients or their family members during times of stress. As a member of the U.S. Living Will Registry, advance directives can be registered through Good Shepherd Medical Center. The U.S. Living Will Registry electronically stores advance directives and makes the confidential information available to member healthcare providers by Internet or fax. Therefore, Good Shepherd personnel has instant access to documents such as advance directives, organ donor information and emergency contact information, for any registered person 24-hours a day
Click here for the U.S. Living Will Registry website.
For more information on creating and/or registering an advance directive, call the Good Shepherd Social Work at 903-315-2443 or contact the webmaster@gsmc.org. Registering the advance directive is free, and once registered, a person is registered for life.
Below is some general information on the four types of advance directives recognized under Texas law. Advance directives can be changed or cancelled at any time.
Directive to Physicians
A Directive to Physicians, also known as a “living will,” allows you to tell your physician not to use artificial methods to prolong the process of dying if you are terminally ill. A Directive does not become effective until you have been diagnosed with a terminal or irreversible condition.
If you sign a Directive, talk it over with your physician and ask that it be made part of your medical record. If for some reason you become unable to sign a written Directive, you can issue a Directive verbally or by other means of non-written communication in the presence of your physician.
If you have not issued a Directive and become unable to communicate after being diagnosed with a terminal or irreversible condition, your attending physician and legal guardian, or certain family members in the absence of a legal guardian, can make decisions concerning withdrawing, withholding or providing life-sustaining treatment. Your attending physician and another physician not involved in your care also can make decisions to withdraw or withhold life-sustaining treatment if you do not have a guardian and certain family members are not available.
Click here for a Directive form.
Medical Power of Attorney
Another type of advance directive is a Medical Power of Attorney, which allows you to designate someone you trust – an agent – to make healthcare decisions on your behalf should you become unable to make these decisions yourself.
You cannot choose as your agent your healthcare provider. This includes a physician, hospital or nursing home, an employee of your healthcare provider unless he is your relative, your residential care provider such as a nursing home or hospice, or an employee of your residential care provider unless he is related to you.
The person you designate has authority to make healthcare decisions on your behalf only when your attending physician certifies that you lack the capacity to make your own healthcare decisions. Your agent cannot make a healthcare decision if you object, regardless of whether you have the capacity to make the healthcare decision yourself, or whether a Medical power of Attorney is in effect.
Your agent must make healthcare decisions after consulting with your attending physician according to the agent’s knowledge of your wishes including your religious and moral beliefs. If your wishes are unknown, your agent must make a decision based on what he believes is in your best interest.
Click here for a Medical Power of Attorney form.
Out-of-Hospital Do-Not-Resuscitate Order
An Out-of-Hospital DNR Order allows you to refuse certain life-sustaining treatments in any setting outside of a hospital. This advance directive must be issued in conjunction with your attending physician.
Declaration for Mental Health Treatment
Another type of advance directive deals with mental health treatment issues only. A Declaration for Mental health Treatment allows you to tell healthcare providers your choices for mental health treatment, in the event that you become incapacitated.
Legal Aspects Of Advance Directives
An advance directive does not need to be notarized. Neither Good Shepherd nor your physician may require you to execute an advance directive as a condition for admittance or receiving treatment in this or any other hospital. The fact that you have executed an advance directive will not affect any insurance policies that you may have.
Good Shepherd Policies for Implementing Patient Rights
Formal policies have been adopted to assure that your rights to make medical treatment decisions will be honored to the extent permitted by law. Good Shepherd has adopted policies relating to informed consent and implementation and treatment decisions under the directive to Physicians, the Medical Power of Attorney, the Out-of-Hospital Do-Not-Resuscitate Order and the Declaration for Mental Health Treatment.
Complaints concerning advance directive requirements may be filed by calling the Texas Department of Health at 800-228-1570.