Legal Help and Forms
Advance Directives | Information
Access and Privacy |
Other Health Care Law | Legal Help
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Advance
Directives
Advance directives are written instructions that
state how you want health care decisions to be made for you if you
become incapacitated. Individuals who are of sound mind and are 18
or older may complete these forms. Wisconsin laws created two forms
of advance directives for health care – the
living
will and the
health
care power of attorney. A living will (Declaration to
Physicians) allows you to select the kind of life-sustaining care
you would want if injury or illness leaves you in a terminal
condition (dying) or a persistent vegetative state with no hope of
recovery. With a health care power of attorney, you appoint someone
to be your “agent” to make all health care decisions – not
just those involving life support – for you if you lose the
ability to make decisions for yourself.
In addition, you can also appoint someone to handle
your financial matters using a
Power
of Attorney for Finances and Property.
Consumer's
Tool Kit for Health Care Advance Planning from the American Bar
Association includes question and answer forms to help you and your
family think and talk about end-of-life health care issues.
Access to and
Privacy of Health Information
Federal and state laws govern your right to get,
read and, in some cases, change the information in your medical
records. They also protect the privacy of your medical records
and other types of health information. These laws have been
interpreted in different ways by different health care providers,
but some general information on your rights and protections under
these laws is available from the following sources.
Protecting
the Privacy of Patients' Health Information from the United
States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) includes
information on how the privacy rule of the Health Insurance
Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) may allow you to access
your medical records while at the same time protect the privacy of
your health information.
Wisconsin
Consumer's Guide to Health Information Privacy: A guide to health
information privacy that takes into account HIPAA and laws specific
to Wisconsin.
Your
Frequently Asked Questions about HIPAA, also from HHS, provides
answers to a wide variety of questions about access to and privacy
of medical records and information covered by HIPAA. Some of
the general topics covered include:
How
Private is My Medical Information? from the Privacy
Rights Clearinghouse gives an overview of your rights and
protections on medical information that is not covered by HIPAA.
Accessing Your Medical Information includes information on how to request
your medical records from your doctor or other health care provider.
The fact sheet is published by
HealthCareCoach.com, a project of the
National Health Law Program (NHeLP),
a non-profit legal organization.
In some cases, state law covers access to your
medical records and information. Information on state
health privacy laws is available from the Health
Privacy Project.
Other Health Care Law
Health
Law Questions and Answers published by the
State Bar of Wisconsin.
Legal Help
If you need legal help, the State Bar of Wisconsin Legal
Explorer Web site provides
general
information on finding a lawyer and information on
finding
a lawyer if you have a low income.
The Legal Services
Corporation, a private, non-profit corporation
established by Congress, allows you to search
for a local legal aid program from its Web site.
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Learn more.
Last Revised: April 16, 2008
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