Make provisions with a living will

How should the patient be treated in the event of an inability to make decisions, and what should be avoided? Individual wishes of a patient should be regulated in good time when they are no longer able to make their own decisions. The question of the right time is not really an issue. An accident, for example, can turn a previously perfectly healthy person into an intensive care patient. What a treatment path might look like in this case, especially one that does not involve "device medicine", must be legally regulated in advance. With a living will, individual medical steps and a trusted person who will take on the necessary power of attorney for care can be specified and named.

Formulate the patient directive as specifically as possible

It is important to define personal wishes, values ​​and attitudes towards life – and perhaps also towards death – as concretely as possible. For example, the implementation or rejection of artificial Nutrition and fluid intake must be determined. The situation when an omission or implementation takes effect must also be described. This is the only way that doctors and relatives can implement a patient's personal wishes in the event that they are unable to make decisions. In order for this to be upheld in the eyes of the law, a few important points must be observed, which the Federal Ministry of Justice has compiled in a brochure.

Taking the patient's advance directive seriously

As important as the living will is for the continued independent action of a person, it is given very little attention. A study in the intensive care unit of the University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf last year showed that 51 percent of the patients surveyed had a power of attorney and/or a living will. Of the 49 percent who did not have one, 39 percent had not even considered the subject. This often leads to unnecessary life-prolonging treatment steps, often against the patient's known but not stated wishes.

Obtain expert advice on the legal certainty of the patient’s advance directive

In order for the patient directive to be legally binding in an emergency, specific wording is required. The Federal Ministry of Justice has listed these in a brochure. Text blocks that have been developed and agreed with experts can be adopted and make it easier to put together the desired passages. Finally, it is strongly recommended that you work with a qualified person such as your Doctor that to advise on individual patient directivesin order to gain clarity about what is intended and to avoid contradictions between individual statements and determinations.
The brochure on the patient directive is available free of charge as a PDF from the Federal Ministry of Justice at: www.bmjv.de