Advance healthcare directive in WA

Without a formal directive, your healthcare choices may be left to others, making it harder to ensure your personal preferences are respected. Planning ahead helps avoid uncertainty and ensures your wishes are known.

If you haven’t set out your future healthcare preferences, the law designates specific people to make medical decisions on your behalf. These may include your spouse, de facto partner, children, parents, siblings, unpaid carers, or close friends.

To act on your behalf, the person must:

• Be at least 18 years old.
• Have full legal capacity.
• Be willing to make decisions for you.
• Have maintained a close personal relationship with you.

In Western Australia, an advance healthcare directive can only be created by an individual who is 18 years or older and has full decision-making capacity.

For the directive to be legally valid, it must be made voluntarily, without any external pressure or coercion.

An advance healthcare directive allows you to outline your decisions and preferences for various treatments.

You can include specific instructions for medical, surgical, and dental treatments, as well as palliative care, life-support measures, and resuscitation. Being as clear and detailed as possible helps ensure your wishes are fully understood and followed.

The directive also includes a section for your values and preferences. Here, you can express what matters most to you regarding your health and care, such as personal beliefs, cultural considerations, or specific goals of care. This section aligns with the questions found in the Values and Preferences Form, providing a comprehensive way to document your priorities.

Yes, you can use both an advance healthcare directive and an enduring guardianship for comprehensive decision-making coverage.

An advance healthcare directive allows you to specify your preferences for medical treatments in particular scenarios. However, appointing an enduring guardian ensures that someone you trust can make decisions on your behalf for situations not anticipated in your directive or for matters it does not address.

If your advance healthcare directive applies, its instructions will take precedence over decisions made by your enduring guardian.

This combination ensures that your wishes are respected while providing flexibility for unforeseen circumstances.

Creating an advance healthcare directive in WA involves several steps to ensure it reflects your healthcare choices and meets legal requirements:

1. Reflect on your values and preferences: Consider what matters most to you about your health, care, and quality of life, especially if you were to become seriously ill or injured in the future.
2. Discuss with loved ones: Talk to close family members and friends about your wishes to ensure they understand your priorities.
3. Seek professional advice: Consult with medical and legal professionals if you need guidance on specific treatments or the legal implications of your choices.
4. Complete the directive: Fill out the Advance Health Directive form either by hand or electronically.
5. Sign and witness: Sign your directive in the presence of two witnesses who are at least 18 years old. One witness must be authorised to witness statutory declarations in WA.
6. Make certified copies: Create certified copies of your directive and upload one to My Health Record so it’s accessible to healthcare professionals when needed.
7. Share copies: Share certified copies with family members, carers, and anyone involved in your medical care.
8. Store safely: Keep the original document in a secure place for easy access when required.
9. Review regularly: Plan to revisit your directive every 2 to 5 years or sooner if your health or circumstances change.

By following the above process, you can ensure your directive is both legally binding and a clear reflection of your medical preferences.

An advance healthcare directive typically only comes into effect when a person is no longer able to make or communicate their own medical decisions. In these situations, the directive guides healthcare providers based on the instructions you set out.

Importantly, it will only be used if its contents are relevant to the treatment or care being considered at the time.

In most cases, healthcare professionals are legally required to follow the instructions in your advance healthcare directive if you can’t make or communicate decisions yourself. This includes situations where you have refused life-sustaining treatment, even if it may result in death.

That said, there are rare exceptions. Your directive may not be followed if:

• Unexpected changes occur in your circumstances that you couldn’t have anticipated when making the directive, and a reasonable person might have made a different decision; or
• The directive is too vague or unclear to guide healthcare providers effectively.

To ensure your wishes are respected, we recommend making your directive as clear as possible and reviewing it regularly. This helps avoid any confusion and gives you peace of mind that your care will reflect what’s most important to you.

Upload your directive to My Health Record for easy access. Keep a scanned PDF handy and provide your custodian’s contact details.

You should also share copies of this document with:

• Family, carers, and your enduring guardian; and
• Your GP, hospital, and aged care staff.

For extra visibility, carry an Alert Card in your wallet or wear a MedicAlert bracelet to ensure your wishes are known when it matters most.

An advance healthcare directive ends when you choose to revoke it, when it reaches its specified expiry date (if one is included), or upon your death.

Yes, you can revoke an existing advance healthcare directive at any time by completing a new one. Simply select the ‘revoke previous version’ option on the front page of the new document.

It’s a good idea to review your directive every two to four years or whenever significant changes occur in your health, personal circumstances, or living arrangements. This ensures your decisions remain relevant and reflect your current wishes.

While it’s possible to create an advance healthcare directive without a lawyer, having legal guidance can provide invaluable peace of mind.

A lawyer ensures your directive is legally sound, clearly written, and aligned with your broader estate planning goals.

By working with us, you can avoid common pitfalls, address complex scenarios, and ensure every detail reflects your wishes. Ultimately, you can feel confident your healthcare wishes will be followed at critical times.

To begin this legal process, please get in touch with our lawyers in Perth today. We always endeavour to provide upfront fixed-fee costs for your legal needs.