An Advance Health Directive (AHD) is a legal document that allows an adult in Western Australia to make decisions about future medical treatment they would want, or not want, if they become unable to communicate those decisions themselves.
It gives you the opportunity to record your healthcare wishes and provides guidance to health professionals and others involved in your care. While a will explains what happens to your assets after your death, an Advance Health Directive deals with healthcare decisions during your lifetime.
For assistance setting up an Advance Health Directive, get in touch with one of our wills and estate planning lawyers today.
Download Advance Health Directive Fact Sheet
What is an Advance Health Directive?
An Advance Health Directive is a legal document where you can provide instructions about medical treatment you would consent to or refuse in specific future circumstances.
The document only applies if you do not have the capacity to make or communicate a decision about your own treatment at the time. This may happen because of illness, injury or another medical condition.
Your Advance Health Directive allows your wishes to be known before a situation arises. It can help reduce uncertainty for your loved ones and provide healthcare professionals with a clearer understanding of your preferences.
Why should you consider making an Advance Health Directive?
There are several reasons you may consider making an Advance Health Directive:
- To communicate your healthcare wishes: You can set out your preferences for particular medical treatments and healthcare decisions.
- To provide guidance to others: If you are unable to make your own healthcare decisions, your Advance Health Directive can provide important guidance to those involved in your care.
- To prepare for unexpected circumstances: An accident, illness or medical emergency can occur without warning. Having an advance health directive helps medical professionals understand how to administer care.
- To give you greater control over future care: An Advance Health Directive can help you make important decisions about your healthcare while you have the capacity to do so.
For many people, an Advance Health Directive forms part of broader estate plan alongside a Will, Enduring Power of Attorney and other estate planning documents.
How an Advance Health Directive fits into Your Estate Plan
An Advance Health Directive works alongside other estate planning documents, including your will and documents relating to decision-making authority.
These documents can include:
| Document | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Advance Health Directive | Your decisions about future medical treatment if you cannot communicate them yourself |
| Will | How your assets and belongings are distributed after your death |
| Enduring Power of Guardianship | Appointing someone to make certain personal and lifestyle decisions on your behalf if you lose capacity |
| Enduring Power of Attorney | Allows someone to make decisions about your financial and property affairs if you lose capacity |
| Binding Death Benefit Nominations | A binding death benefit nomination can help direct how your superannuation death benefit is distributed. |
Understanding how each document works together can help create a more complete plan for the future. Lotus Legal works with couples, blended families and seniors to help ensure that their wishes are communicated. Work with our team today for fixed-fee, jargon-free advice.
What can you include in an Advance Health Directive?
Your Advance Health Directive may include:
- Medical treatments you would accept or refuse: including decisions about medical, surgical, dental and mental health treatment.
- Life-sustaining treatments: including treatments such as resuscitation, assisted ventilation or other measures intended to keep you alive.
- Palliative care preferences: including treatments focused on managing symptoms, relieving discomfort and maintaining quality of life.
- Decisions for specific situations: allowing you to explain what treatment you would or would not want in particular circumstances.
- Your values and personal preferences: including what is important to you when considering future healthcare. This may include concerns about quality of life, ongoing pain or being unable to communicate with or recognise loved ones.
- Additional instructions about your care: the WA Advance Health Directive form includes sections where you can provide further information or explain your wishes in more detail.
Your Advance Health Directive should reflect your own values, beliefs and personal circumstances. Taking the time to consider your preferences and discuss them with the people close to you can help ensure your wishes are understood.
How to make an Advance Health Directive in WA
To make an Advance Health Directive in Western Australia, you must:
- Be 18 years or older.
- Have the capacity to make your own decisions when completing the document.
- Complete the approved Advance Health Directive form.
- Sign the document in the presence of an authorised witness.
- Have the authorised witness sign the document and complete the required declaration.
An Advance Health Directive must be completed voluntarily. Your decisions should reflect your own wishes, and you must not be pressured by another person when preparing or signing the document.
Once completed, your Advance Health Directive should be kept somewhere safe and accessible. It is also helpful to ensure your family, healthcare providers or other relevant people know that you have made one and where it can be found.
What happens if you do not have an Advance Health Directive?
If you become unable to make or communicate your own treatment decisions and you do not have an Advance Health Directive, someone else may need to make decisions about your treatment on your behalf.
In Western Australia, health professionals follow a hierarchy of treatment decision-makers. If you have appointed an Enduring Guardian with authority to make treatment decisions, they may be asked to make decisions for you.
If you do not have an Advance Health Directive or an Enduring Guardian, health professionals will work through the hierarchy to find a reasonable person who is eligible, willing and available to make the decision.
This may be your:
- Spouse or de facto partner
- Adult son or daughter
- Parent
- Sibling
- Primary unpaid caregiver
- Another person with a close personal relationship with you.
For non-urgent treatment, the first suitable person in the hierarchy will be asked to make the decision on your behalf.
How Lotus Legal can help with your estate planning
Preparing documents about your future can feel overwhelming, especially when you are making decisions about health, family and long-term arrangements.
At Lotus Legal, we help clients across Western Australia understand their estate planning options through clear, straightforward advice. Our team takes the time to explain how different documents work and how they may fit together as part of your overall plan.
Whether you are reviewing an existing estate plan or preparing documents for the first time, we focus on making the process clear and easy to understand. Our fixed-fee approach provides transparency about costs from the beginning, so you know what to expect.
If you are considering creating an Advance Health Directive or reviewing your estate planning arrangements, our team is here to help.
Disclaimer: Laws are subject to change, and the information provided is general in nature. Readers are encouraged to seek professional legal advice tailored to their specific circumstances to ensure accurate and relevant guidance.