Advance Directives Resource Center

This Advance Directives Resource Center is intended to provide consumers with information about advance directives in Indiana.

Advance directive is a term that refers to a person’s spoken and written instructions about future medical care and treatment. By stating healthcare choices in an advance directive, individuals help their family and physician understand their wishes about your medical care. Indiana law pays special attention to advance directives.

An advance directive may name a person of your choice to make health care choices for you when you cannot make the choices for yourself. If you want, you may use an advance directive to prevent certain people from making health care decisions on your behalf.

Visit the Prepare for Your Care program and download the Prepare for Your Care pamphlet for help on how to have a voice in your medical care and talk to others about your medical wishes.

Advance Directive Forms

As of July 1, 2021, Indiana State law changed to allow more flexibility for advance directives and to allow for more options when signing the directive.

Individuals can now sign a single advance directive which may be used to replace the following older types of advance directives: the durable power of attorney containing healthcare powers, the appointment of a healthcare representative, and the living will declaration or life-prolonging procedures declaration. Previously executed advance directives will remain valid so long as the directives were valid at the time of execution.

The new law no longer mandates the use of an official form for an advance directive.  Samples of advance directive forms can be found here:

• The Indiana Patient Preferences Coalition
• PREPARE for your Care – Sample Advance Directive Form

Neither the Out-of-hospital Do Not Resuscitate Declaration and Order nor the Physicians Order for Scope of Treatment (POST) have changed under the new law and are available below.

• Out-of-hospital Do Not Resuscitate Declaration and Order (PDF)
• Physicians Order for Scope of Treatment (POST) (PDF | Word)

Links

The Indiana Patient Preferences Coalition
This website provides information about advance directives for patients, families, and healthcare providers. It includes answers to frequently asked questions. and translations of the POST form in multiple languages for educational purposes only.

Advance Directives, MedlinePlus, U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institute of Health
This website provides information about advance directives and provides links to other sites providing additional information.

Indiana State Guardianship Association
The Indiana State Guardianship Association was organized to strengthen guardianship and related services through networking, education, and tracking and commenting on legislation. A goal of the association is to improve services to people who are elderly, have mental illness, developmental disabilities, physical disabilities, and other incapacitating disabilities.

Guardianship and Alternatives to Guardianship, The Arc of Indiana
The Arc of Indiana was established to advocate for and serve people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. They provide information and resources to families raising a child with a disability.

National State by State Directory of POST Programs
This is a link to a state-by-state directory of Physician Order for Scope of Treatment (POST) programs. POST is known by different names in different states. Many states use the term POLST (Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment).

Contact

Last Updated 3/1/2022