Make your health care wishes known!

It’s vitally important that those close to you understand the kind of medical treatment you would—or would not—want if you were unable to speak for yourself. You can use this Georgia Advance Directive for Health Care to describe your health care wishes and to name a trusted person to oversee them. The person you name can also make other necessary health care decisions for you if you are too ill or injured to direct your own care. In addition, this form provides a document for revoking your health care directive and a letter for your agent, which describes the agent’s duties.

As you make this form, you will be asked about:

Your Agent

• Who should be your health care agent?
• Who should be your alternate agent and second alternate agent?

Your Agent's Authority

The agent you name will be able to make most health care decisions for you if you cannot make them for yourself.  Further, with this form, you can grant your agent the authority to make decisions about organ donation, autopsy, and what happens to your body after your death. You can also decide whether you want your agent’s authority to go into effect as soon as you sign your document or at a later date or event. 

As you go through the program, we will help you understand these issues and how your choices will affect your agent’s ability to make decisions on your behalf.

Your Health Care Wishes

What kind of care do you want to receive if you cannot speak for yourself? Specifically,

• In certain dire situations, do you want your life to be prolonged?
• Do you want to state anything else about the location of your care, palliative care, your personal or religious values, or anything else?
• Do you want your wishes to be followed even if you are pregnant?
• Do you want to donate your organs or other body parts?

This form is intended for use by people who expect to receive medical care in Georgia. It aligns with the Georgia statutory form  Advanced Directive for Health Care. (Ga. Code. Ann. § 31-32-4.) It complies with Georgia law and will be familiar to health care practitioners in Georgia. Do not use this form unless you expect to receive health care in Georgia.

For more about this form, read Nolo’s Georgia Health Care Directive FAQ

For more about health care directives (including living wills, powers of attorney for health care, DNRs, and POLST forms), see Living Wills & Medical Powers of Attorney on Nolo.com.