Georgia Advance Directive for Health Care

This is general information, not legal advice. A Georgia estate planning attorney can help with your specific situation.

What the Advance Directive Does

Georgia’s Advance Directive for Health Care (O.C.G.A. §§ 31-32-1 through 31-32-14) is a single document that accomplishes two goals: it designates someone to make medical decisions for you (your healthcare agent), and it records your wishes about specific medical treatments so that those wishes guide your care. Before the Georgia Advance Directive for Health Care Act took effect on July 1, 2007, Georgians needed two separate documents — a living will for treatment preferences and a durable power of attorney for health care for agent designation. The 2007 Act replaced both with one combined form.

The Two Parts of the Document

The first part of the Advance Directive designates your healthcare agent — the person authorized to speak with your doctors and consent to or refuse treatment on your behalf when you cannot communicate your own wishes. You may also name one or more successor agents in case your first choice is unavailable.

The second part records your treatment preferences — instructions about life-sustaining treatment, artificial nutrition and hydration, comfort care, organ donation, and other healthcare decisions. These preferences take effect when your attending physician determines that you have a terminal condition or are in a permanent state of unconsciousness.

When the Document Activates

Your healthcare agent’s authority activates when your attending physician determines you lack the capacity to make or communicate your own healthcare decisions — not simply because you are ill or hospitalized. Your written treatment preferences take effect when you additionally have a terminal condition, are in a persistent vegetative state, or are in a similar end-of-life situation as defined in the Act.

Execution Requirements

The Advance Directive must be signed by you in the presence of two adult witnesses (O.C.G.A. § 31-32-5). A notary is not required. The witnesses may not be:

• The person named as your healthcare agent
• Your attending physician or any other treating healthcare provider
• An employee of a healthcare facility in which you are a patient or resident
• Anyone who would receive a financial benefit from your death (for example, an heir or a life insurance beneficiary)

These restrictions exist to prevent conflicts of interest at the moment your signature is obtained.

How to Revoke an Advance Directive

You may revoke your Advance Directive at any time, in any manner — including orally, in writing, or simply by destroying the document — as long as you have capacity at the time of revocation. To be effective, you should notify your healthcare agent, your physician, and any healthcare facility holding a copy. Executing a new Advance Directive after the old one generally revokes the prior document as well.

Where to Store It

Your Advance Directive only helps if it can be found when needed. Provide a copy to your healthcare agent, your primary care physician, and any specialist or hospital that regularly treats you. Keep the original in a known, accessible location — not in a safe deposit box that no one can open in an emergency. Georgia does not maintain a state advance directive registry, though your physician’s office or hospital medical record is a practical storage point.

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