Should I Get a Health Care Directive/Advance Directive?
For Minnesotans, it’s little effort to ensure important decisions are decided correctly
By Doug Mentes, Esq. | Last updated on January 26, 2023Use these links to jump to different sections:
- What Can a Health Care Directive Do?
- Appointment of an Agent
- Executing a Health Care Directive Is Easy To Do

What Can a Health Care Directive Do?
Health care directive forms vary, and there is no one required form. Typically, a form is divided into two sections:- Appointment of an agent as a decision-maker
- Instructions to providers and health care agent
- Factoring beliefs, goals and values into treatment decisions
- Decisions for care when permanently unconscious or terminally ill with no chance of recovery
- Where to receive medical care
- If given the choice, where to live out final days of life
- Spiritual or religious beliefs and traditions you want observed
Appointment of an Agent
One agent, joint agents or alternate agents can be appointed. You will want to appoint someone you trust, since they will be who steps in and makes the crucial decisions when you cannot. You can grant an agent the power to:- Make any and all health care decisions for you
- Choose health care providers
- Choose where you live and receive care
- Review your medical records and grant authority to share records and medical condition with others
- Organ donation, tissue donation and choose burial or cremation upon death
Executing a Health Care Directive Is Easy To Do
There are few requirements under the law for a valid health care directive. To be enforceable, the health care directive must:- Be in writing and dated
- State the name of the principal
- Be signed by the principal (or someone authorized to sign for them) in front of a notary public or two witnesses
- Appoint an agent or provide instructions about health care decisions
- Be completed by principal and agent, who are both at least 18 years old
What do I do next?
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