Living Will

An advance healthcare directive is a written declaration of intent in which you specify in advance which medical treatments you reject in certain situations. It becomes effective if you are no longer able to make decisions or express yourself. The directive creates legal obligations for physicians and provides clear guidance for relatives. It thus protects your right to self-determination and prevents conflicts.

With an advance healthcare directive, you determine today which medical measures you want to reject in the future if you are no longer able to express yourself. In this way, you safeguard your right to self-determination, and at the same time you relieve your relatives and treating physicians. The directive creates clarity and ensures rapid, legally sound action in an emergency.

Planning for Emergencies

• You can usefully supplement your provision, for example together with a power of attorney and will.
• You determine which treatments you reject if you are no longer able to understand and make judgements.
• You avoid conflicts because your will is documented and can be found quickly.

The most Important Question

You make these decisions while you are still capable of making them. Do not wait for a reason, because medical situations arise suddenly. Those who make provisions in good time retain control and reduce risks.

Act Now

Establish your advance healthcare directive in good time. In doing so, you create commitment and clarity, and you avoid stressful emergency decisions in acute cases.

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Right to Self-Determination

The right to self-determination is your legally guaranteed patient right. You have the right to consent to or refuse medical treatment.

In order to be able to take your will into account even if you can no longer express yourself, you must establish a binding advance healthcare directive. The attending physician must comply with this.

Binding Advance Healthcare Directive

With a binding advance healthcare directive, the implementation of certain medical measures can be rejected in advance in the event that you lose the capacity for insight, judgement or expression (for example, because you are unconscious).

In a binding advance healthcare directive, the medical treatments that are rejected must be specifically listed or clearly evident from the overall context of the directive. In addition, the directive must show that the person making the directive correctly assesses the consequences of rejecting the medical measure.

For example, in the event that a cure is impossible, artificial prolongation of the dying process by means of life-sustaining measures such as artificial respiration or artificial nutrition can be dispensed with.

If the legal requirements for a binding advance healthcare directive are not met, it must in any case be assumed that the directive is non-binding. Although such a directive is not binding per se for the treating physicians, it must nevertheless be used as a basis for determining the patient’s will.

Preventive Care Recommendation for Every Phase of Life

An advance healthcare directive is recommended for every adult. Accidents and serious illnesses also affect young people and often occur without warning. Those who make clear specifications protect themselves and others.

The Right Time for an Advance Healthcare Directive

Advance healthcare directives, powers of attorney and wills have one thing in common: all three are only needed on a specific day. Whoever misses the day has missed the chance for self-determination. Then the state regulates what happens next.

An advance healthcare directive can only be established as long as the capacity to make decisions has not been lost. If you want to regulate yourself who should decide in an emergency, now is the right moment for the first free step.

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Creation of a Binding Advance Healthcare Directive

Before a binding advance healthcare directive can be drawn up, legal and medical advice is mandatory.

The next step is a personal consultation with a lawyer. We explain the possible contents of the binding advance healthcare directive, the available scope for design and the legal consequences of your decision. This is documented in writing in accordance with the statutory provisions. You will also receive a checklist from us for your discussion with your family doctor.

As the penultimate step towards establishing a binding advance healthcare directive, a comprehensive medical consultation on the consequences of the advance healthcare directive for medical treatment is mandatory.

You can best obtain this clarification from your family doctor. We would also be happy to recommend a doctor to you. The clarifying doctor has documented in writing that the clarification has been carried out, that the patient has the capacity for insight and judgement and that the patient correctly assesses the consequences of the advance healthcare directive.

Drawing up an advance healthcare directive is a great opportunity to think about and talk about your own final phase of life and how it should be shaped. In addition to the doctor and lawyer required by law, we therefore recommend that you also hold discussions with your relatives.

The actual creation of the advance healthcare directive is then carried out in our law firm. Before you sign the advance healthcare directive, all points are discussed again in detail. Safety is our top priority.

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Advance Healthcare Directive Registry

Finally, the advance healthcare directive is registered by our law firm in the advance healthcare directive register of Austrian lawyers. All hospitals have access to the advance healthcare directive register via a cooperation with the Red Cross, so that in an emergency the attending physician learns of the advance healthcare directive and can proceed accordingly.

Expiration and Extension of the Binding Advance Healthcare Directive

A binding advance healthcare directive is only valid for a maximum of eight years and then automatically loses its effect. However, an extension before or after the expiry of the eight years by a further eight years each time is possible.

This requires a further medical consultation. The person making the directive can also specify a period shorter than the statutory period of validity. If the existing directive is amended or supplemented, the eight-year period starts again.

However, should the loss of the capacity for insight, judgement or expression have occurred within the eight years and the person making the directive is therefore unable to renew it, the advance healthcare directive will of course remain valid – otherwise the conclusion would often make no sense at all.

Revocation of the Binding Advance Healthcare Directive

You can revoke your advance healthcare directive at any time. The revocation does not require any justification. It is important that relatives and treating parties are informed of the revocation quickly. We recommend a short written notification and updating the register entries.

Your Benefits with Legal Assistance

An advance healthcare directive touches on legal, medical and personal issues. Different formulations quickly lead to misunderstandings, and a lack of clarity causes uncertainty in acute cases. Those who make structured provisions avoid disputes and protect the right to self-determination.

With our specialized advice, you can make clear and sustainable decisions and ensure that they are binding.

• we check the applicability and scope of your directive
• we carry out the legal consultation in accordance with the law and document it
• we formulate clear and unambiguous rejections of medical measures
• we coordinate the medical consultation and prepare the discussion
• we take over the registration and ensure that it can be found in an emergency

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Frequently Asked Questions – FAQ