Nobody wants to imagine a time where they are confined to a hospital bed or facing a serious medical diagnosis. However, we have all heard plenty of horror stories of things that happened to people in hospitals during the COVID-19 lockdowns; you don’t want to leave your health care decisions up to the medical community alone, especially if you are a halacha-observant Jew.
An advance directive (living will) allows a person to authorize an agent to make health care decisions on their behalf if they are unable to do so themselves, and outline their preferences when it comes to medical treatments and overall preferences for their care.
A halachic health care proxy document will allow one to appoint a health care agent and designate a rabbi that the agent is directed to consult in the event that a shaila arises. There are a countless number of shailos that can arise and you want to make sure that your agent works with a rav that you trust and align with both halachically and hashkafically.
Choosing the right person to be one’s health care agent is a very important decision. This duty should not necessarily be handed off to the closest family member. Just because an individual is married does not mean that their spouse is the person who is best suited for this role. Some questions to ask before naming an agent include:
- Will this person be available to step in immediately and have the presence of mind to make these decisions when the time is required?
- Are they local to where I reside?
- Can this person speak intelligently with rabbanim, doctors and medical professionals and come to an educated decision on how to proceed with my treatment?
- Is this person willing to disregard their own inclinations for my health care and follow my wishes as laid out in my living will?
If the answer to any of these questions is no, it may be time to consider a different person for this role. Furthermore, it’s best to name at least one backup agent, just in case one’s named agent is not available when they are needed.
The next step is creating a living will. Living wills are documents that lay out a person’s preferences regarding various medical treatments. The living will can be as specific as its creator desires, covering a wide range of different medical treatments and preferences, or in the alternative stating their general thoughts on how and when they would like to receive care, and letting their health care agent take it from there. The living will is also where one can instruct medical professionals on how to handle their post-mortem care in accordance with halachic requirements.
Once properly signed, copies of the document still need to be distributed to the right people and it should be stored and accessible for use whenever it is needed. Importantly, you do not give up the right to make your own health care decisions so long as you are able to do so. An advance directive will only go into effect when the primary physician treating the patient determines that they are no longer capable of making their own decisions regarding their healthcare. If desired, the document can be written to require a second confirming opinion of incapacitation, either generally or in order to provide or withhold certain treatments.
Deciding when to have the advance directive go into effect and ensuring that it is available and used when needed can sometimes be complicated. The best way to make sure this process goes smoothly is to work with a qualified attorney who can advise on how to store and distribute the document effectively.
By Adam (Chananya) Rosenblum
