Key Highlights
- An AMD may be made by a person with decision-making capacity, stating their wishes regarding medical treatment or for withdrawal of treatment when they become incapacitated.
- Your AMD can state your desire that treatment like ventilator support be withheld if you are in a permanently vegetative state or there is no hope for recovery, your preferences for pain management, etc.
- You may also nominate designated healthcare representatives (DHRs) to take decisions on your behalf for your medical treatment, if needed.
- To make a valid AMD, you must clearly write down your treatment wishes and specify the name of the DHR (who may be a guardian or close relative and need not be the same individuals as the executors of your Will).
- You must sign this document, and have it attested by two witnesses who are preferably independent (for instance, not your DHR, family doctor, close friend or family member) and by a notary or Gazetted Officer.
