The Georgia Advance Directive for Healthcare

In recognizing the right of individuals to (1) control all aspects of his or her personal care and medical treatment, (2) insist upon medical treatment, (3) decline medical treatment, or (4) direct that medical treatment be withdrawn, the General Assembly has in the past, provided statutory forms for both the living will and durable power of attorney for health care. To help reduce confusion, inconsistency, out-of-date terminology, and confusing and inconsistent requirements for execution, and to follow the trend set by other states to combine the concepts of the living will and health care agency into a single legal document, the efforts of a significant number of individuals representing the academic, medical, legislative, and legal communities, state officials, ethics scholars, and advocacy groups produced the development of a consolidated advance directive for health care. This newly created form using understandable and everyday language is meant to encourage more citizens of Georgia to voluntarily execute advance directives for health care to make their wishes more clearly known.