Living Wills & Advance Directives: Ensuring Your Healthcare Wishes Are Respected
Take control of your medical care by documenting your healthcare preferences in advance. Learn how to create legally binding directives that protect your autonomy and guide your loved ones during difficult decisions.
Why Advance Directives Matter
Life is unpredictable. A sudden illness, accident, or cognitive decline can leave you unable to communicate your medical preferences. Without advance directives, your family may face agonizing decisions about your care—unsure of what you would have wanted. Doctors may provide treatments you would have refused, or withhold interventions you would have chosen.
Advance directives are legal documents that allow you to specify your healthcare wishes in advance and appoint someone you trust to make medical decisions on your behalf if you become incapacitated. They provide clarity, reduce family conflict, and ensure your values guide your care—even when you can't speak for yourself.
Key Benefits:
- • Autonomy: Your values and preferences guide your medical care
- • Peace of mind: You and your family know your wishes are documented
- • Reduced conflict: Clear instructions prevent family disagreements
- • Relief for loved ones: They don't have to guess what you would want
Types of Advance Directives
Three main documents work together to protect your healthcare wishes.
A living will (also called a "declaration" or "directive to physicians") is a written statement of your preferences for end-of-life medical treatment. It tells doctors what life-sustaining treatments you do or do not want if you are terminally ill, permanently unconscious, or in the final stages of a fatal condition.
Decisions Covered:
- • CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation): Do you want chest compressions and electric shocks if your heart stops?
- • Mechanical ventilation: Do you want a breathing machine if you can't breathe on your own?
- • Tube feeding: Do you want artificial nutrition and hydration if you can't eat or drink?
- • Dialysis: Do you want kidney dialysis if your kidneys fail?
- • Antibiotics: Do you want treatment for infections that could be fatal without intervention?
- • Comfort care: Do you want pain relief and symptom management even if it shortens life?
Important: A living will only applies when you are unable to communicate AND your condition is terminal, irreversible, or you are in a persistent vegetative state. It does NOT apply to everyday medical decisions.
A medical power of attorney (also called "healthcare proxy" or "durable power of attorney for healthcare") is a legal document that names someone you trust—your healthcare agent—to make medical decisions on your behalf if you become unable to communicate.
Your Agent Can Decide:
- • What treatments, procedures, or surgeries to approve or refuse
- • Which doctors or hospitals to use
- • Whether to continue, withhold, or withdraw life support
- • Whether to enroll in clinical trials or experimental treatments
- • Whether to donate organs or tissues
- • Access to your medical records
Choosing Your Agent: Pick someone who knows your values, can handle stress, will advocate for your wishes (not their own preferences), and is willing to serve. Name a backup agent in case your first choice is unavailable. Discuss your wishes with them in detail so they understand what you would want.
A POLST form (also called "MOST" in some states) is a medical order—not just a directive—signed by both you and your doctor. It provides specific instructions for emergency medical personnel (EMTs, paramedics) about what treatments to provide in a medical crisis.
POLST vs. Living Will:
- • POLST: Medical order signed by doctor; portable (follows you across care settings); applies immediately in emergencies
- • Living Will: Legal document; only applies when terminally ill or permanently unconscious; may not be immediately accessible in emergencies
Who needs a POLST? Recommended for people with serious chronic illnesses, frailty, or limited life expectancy (typically less than 1 year). Not necessary for healthy adults—a living will and medical power of attorney are sufficient.
Colorado note: Colorado uses the POLST form. It's printed on bright pink paper so it's easily recognizable by emergency responders.
What Healthcare Decisions to Consider
Think through these scenarios and document your preferences.
- Do you want CPR if your heart stops?
- Do you want a ventilator (breathing machine)?
- Do you want tube feeding if you can't swallow?
- Do you want dialysis if your kidneys fail?
- What quality of life is acceptable to you?
- Would you want treatment if permanently unconscious?
- Would you want treatment if you had severe dementia?
- Is extending life always the priority, or is comfort more important?
- Do you want maximum pain relief, even if it shortens life?
- Do you want hospice care for terminal illness?
- Where do you want to spend your final days (home, hospital, hospice facility)?
- Do you want to donate organs and tissues?
- Are there specific organs you do or don't want to donate?
- Do you want to donate your body to medical research?
How to Create Advance Directives in Colorado
Obtain Colorado's Official Forms
Download free forms from the Colorado Bar Association, Colorado Hospital Association, or your healthcare provider. You can also use online services like Everplans or Cake for guided completion.
Colorado forms: "Colorado Medical Durable Power of Attorney" and "Colorado Declaration (Living Will)"
Complete the Forms
Fill out the forms carefully. Be as specific as possible about your wishes. For the medical power of attorney, name your healthcare agent and at least one backup agent.
Sign in Front of Witnesses or Notary
Living Will: Must be signed by you and either two witnesses OR a notary public.
Medical Power of Attorney: Must be signed by you and either two witnesses OR a notary public.
Witnesses: Cannot be your healthcare agent, your doctor, or anyone who would inherit from your estate.
Distribute Copies
Give copies to: your healthcare agent, your primary care doctor, any specialists treating you, your hospital or senior living facility, and family members who may be involved in your care. Keep the original in a safe but accessible place (NOT a safe deposit box).
Discuss Your Wishes
Have detailed conversations with your healthcare agent and family about your values, fears, and preferences. Explain the reasoning behind your decisions so they can apply your values to situations you didn't anticipate.
Do You Need a Lawyer?
No, you don't need a lawyer to create advance directives in Colorado. The state provides free forms that are legally valid when properly completed and signed. However, consulting an elder law attorney is recommended if you have complex family situations, concerns about someone challenging your wishes, or want to coordinate advance directives with estate planning documents.
When and How to Update Your Directives
Your healthcare preferences may change over time. Review your advance directives every few years and update them when:
- • Your health status changes significantly (new diagnosis, chronic illness)
- • Your healthcare agent is no longer available or willing to serve
- • You get married, divorced, or experience other major life changes
- • Your values or preferences about medical treatment change
- • You move to a different state (laws vary by state)
- • Medical technology advances create new treatment options you want to address
How to Update:
Create a new document with the updated information and sign it with witnesses or a notary (same process as creating the original). Write "REVOKED" across all old copies and destroy them. Distribute new copies to everyone who had the old version.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Colorado Advance Directive Resources
Free downloadable advance directive forms and instructions for Colorado residents.
📞 303-860-1115 | cobar.org
Provides advance directive forms and educational materials for patients and families.
📞 720-489-1630 | cha.com
Free state-specific advance directive forms and guidance on end-of-life planning.
📞 1-800-658-8898 | caringinfo.org
Free legal assistance for low-income seniors with advance directive questions and estate planning.
📞 303-837-1313 | coloradolegalservices.org