Minnesota allows an individual to use a Health Care Directive to name a Health Care Agent to make health care decisions if the individual’s physician determines that the individual cannot communicate, or lacks the capacity, to make health care decisions. The Health Care Agent may make any health care decision for the individual, choose health care providers, choose where the individual will live, and can review medical records for the individual.
Minnesota statutes set requirements for a valid Health Care Directive, including that the fact that it must be in writing and properly witnessed or acknowledged. The Health Care Directive can be revoked by the person making the directive provided the person is competent to make the revocation. The Health Care Agent’s powers remain in effect during the incapacity of the individual but cease upon the individual regaining the ability to make health care decisions or upon the death of the individual.
Health Care Directives are often less expensive, less time-consuming, and less invasive of a person’s privacy compared to a Guardianship proceeding. Therefore, it can be valuable lifetime safety net for an individual.
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