Why You Should Have An Advance Directive In Oklahoma

It’s something no one likes to think about, but what happens if you have an accident or illness that leaves you debilitated? Have you prepared for a worst-case scenario where you can’t make decisions about your health care and affairs? It’s an uncomfortable, scary topic for most people, but also incredibly important to plan for if you want to ensure your wishes are followed. In Oklahoma, advance directives are one of the most common ways to communicate and secure your medical preferences if you get sick or hurt.

What Is an Advance Directive?

An advance directive is a legal document that outlines your wishes about the medical care you want to receive if you become unable to communicate or make decisions for yourself due to illness or incapacity. It covers three conditions:

1. Terminal Condition: An incurable, irreversible condition that, even if administering life-sustaining treatment, a doctor believes will result in your death within six months.
2. Persistently Unconscious: An irreversible condition where you have no awareness of yourself and your environment (for example, being in a coma with no brain activity).
3. End-Stage Condition: A condition caused by an injury, disease, or illness that causes severe and permanent physical deterioration and there’s no treatment for it. For example, this could be heart failure or late-term dementia.

The purpose of an Oklahoma advance directive is to make sure that your medical preferences are respected regardless of your condition, and to guide healthcare providers and family members in making care decisions on your behalf.

3 Types of Advance Directives In Oklahoma

The State of Oklahoma allows you to use a few types of advance directives:

1. Advance Directive for Health Care

This is a comprehensive directive that combines several elements:

• Living Will: Your wishes regarding the use of life-sustaining treatment (such as a respirator, pacemaker, antibiotics, blood transfusion, or even surgery,) and other specific medical interventions (like getting food or water via an IV) if you become incapacitated.
• Health Care Proxy: Who you want to make medical decisions on your behalf if you are unable to do so.
• Anatomical Gifts: Your wishes regarding organ and tissue donation.

2. Do-Not-Resuscitate (DNR) Consent

This is a separate form from the comprehensive advance directive, specifically designed for people who don’t want to have cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) performed if their heart stops or if they stop breathing.

3. Mental Health Advance Directive

This directive allows you to outline your preferences for psychiatric treatment and to appoint a health care proxy specifically for mental health decisions if you have a mental health crisis and are deemed incapable of making decisions.

Why Do You Need an Advance Directive in Oklahoma?

An advance directive allows you to take proactive steps in managing your healthcare decisions, particularly in situations where you might not be able to make these decisions yourself. Here are the main reasons why people create an Oklahoma advance directive:

• Specify your preferences for medical treatments, including accepting or refusing certain types of care, such as mechanical ventilation, artificial nutrition and hydration, resuscitation, and other life-sustaining measures.
• Designate a decision-maker (i.e. a health care proxy or power of attorney for health care) to make medical decisions on your behalf if you can’t do so.
• Communicate your end-of-life wishes to ensure they are known and respected by family members and healthcare providers.
• Choose whether you’d like to donate your organs and tissue after your death.
• Prepare for situations where you have a mental health issue and need someone you trust to help you get psychiatric care.

By specifying your wishes, you can avoid treatments and care you would not have wanted. Also, advance directives save family members from stress and potential conflict when they have to make difficult decisions during what’s likely an emotional time.

Do Oklahoma Advance Directives Need To Be Notarized?

No, an advance directive is not required to be notarized, but it does need to be signed before two witnesses who meet specific criteria. These witnesses must be 18 or older, can’t be related to you by blood or marriage, and cannot financially benefit from your death. For example, they can’t be beneficiaries under your will or entitled to any part of your estate.

What Are Alternatives to Advance Directives in Oklahoma?

While advance directives are a popular way to specify your healthcare preferences, there are other legal ways to ensure your wishes are known and respected:

• POLST (Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment): This medical order is designed for people with serious illnesses or frailty near the end of life. POLST forms are more detailed than a typical advance directive and translate a patient’s wishes into physician orders for healthcare providers.
• Five Wishes Document: This is a type of advance directive created by the non-profit organization Aging with Dignity. It covers personal, spiritual, and emotional aspects of care in addition to medical and legal concerns, and it is designed to be understandable and easy to use.
• Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care: Although typically part of an advance directive, you can create a standalone durable power of attorney for health care. It solely focuses on appointing a healthcare proxy or agent to make decisions on your behalf without specifying treatment preferences in a living will.

Note: In addition to power of attorney, the legal vehicles of guardianship and conservatorship might also have medical elements involved. Read more about Guardianship vs. Conservatorship vs. Power of Attorney.

• Living Will: Like the durable power of attorney for health care, you can also create just a living will on its own. It documents specific directives about medical treatment but does not include appointing a health care proxy.

You can also write informal statements expressing how you’d like your care to be handled, or verbally instruct loved ones or doctors as to your wishes, but neither of these are as legally binding as an official advance directive.

Do You Need a Lawyer to Create an Oklahoma Advance Directive?

While it’s painful and often sad to imagine a situation where you may not be able to make medical decisions on your own, it’s important to think through your healthcare wishes now when you’re clear-headed and can document them appropriately.

You don’t necessarily need legal support to create an advance directive–there are generic online templates you can use. That being said, having the guidance of an estate planning attorney can be invaluable. An experienced lawyer will help you draft and execute the best type of advance directive for your situation, ensuring it’s legally binding and compliant with Oklahoma law.

To learn more about proactively planning for your medical care and other affairs, book a free consultation with our firm.