Health-care act to take effect

The act is the result of hard work and collaboration by dozens of groups and individuals involved in aging and health-care issues and planning, said Maureen Henry, executive director of the Utah Commission on Aging.

Henry said that advances in medical technology have outpaced the old law's language. And disconnects between the legal and medical system, as well as the limited scope of the language in the old forms, are just some of the issues that begged for change.

This summer, in an explanation of the act for the Utah Bar Association, she noted a presumption by some health-care providers "that the mere existence of a living will meant that the individual wanted very limited or no care." Among the anecdotes, she said, were 'do not resuscitate' orders improperly placed in a patient's file because the individual said she had a living will; the withholding of antibiotics from a woman who was very sick with pneumonia, although they might have restored her to her former state of health. The "provider may simply assume that all living wills express a preference to forgo life-sustaining care."

The new form not only provides more choice, clearly spelled out, but also explains that you don't have to pick an agent or even fill out the form and no one can make you. If you want every measure available to prolong your life, you're free to choose that. The act also sets penalties for anyone who forges, alters or destroys an advanced health-care directive.

More information, instructions and the form are available online at www.aging.utah.edu/directives.

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