An Agent is the person you appoint to make medical decisions for you in the event you are unable to express your preferences about medical treatment. This situation often occurs either because you are unconscious or because your mental state is such that you do not have the legal capacity to make your own decisions.
Life-sustaining treatment means the use of available medical machinery and techniques, such as heart-lung machines, ventilators, and other medical equipment and techniques that may sustain and possibly extend your life, but which may not by themselves cure your condition. (Source: American Bar Association)
Terminal condition means a condition that is life-limiting. Soon it is expected the illness will result in permanent unconsciousness from which the person is unlikely to recover or death. Examples of terminal conditions may include but are not limited to advanced cancers, multiple organ failure, or some massive heart attacks and strokes. Definitions of terminal illness can be different from state to state. (Source: American Cancer Society)
Irreversible condition means a condition, injury, or illness: (1) that may be treated but is never cured or eliminated; (2) that leaves a person unable to care for or make decisions for the person's own self; and (3) that, without life-sustaining treatment provided in accordance with the prevailing standard of medical care is fatal.
Artificially administered nutrition and hydration means if you are unable to take food or water by mouth then you may receive nutrients or fluids by a tube inserted in a vein or in the gastrointestinal tract, such as a feeding tube.
End-stage condition means an incurable and irreversible medical condition in an advanced state caused by injury, disease, or physical illness that will result in death despite the introduction or continuation of medical treatment.
Persistently unconscious is when your physician and another physician have determined your condition is permanent, you are not aware of yourself, others, or your situation, and will not recover awareness.
Let's keep in touch!
