Belief 1

Three Beliefs - A Catholic Guide on Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care in New Hampshire

My Advance Health Care Directive Reflects My Informed Conscience

“Beloved, we are God’s children now, what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do not know that when it is revealed we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” (1 Jn 3:2 NAB).

  • Part of my human dignity consists in the fact that I possess the power to know and the power to choose freely. Out of respect for my dignity, the choices that I and my Health Care Agent make about my health care should be informed by the facts concerning my condition and should be free from outside pressure.
  • Advance health care directives are documents that may assist me in good conscience to direct others regarding what kind of treatment and care I should receive when I am unable to decide for myself. 2
  • A durable power of attorney for health care (“DPAHC”) is an advance health care directive document that designates a living person known as a “Health Care Agent” to make health care decisions on my behalf when I am unable to make my own health care decisions due to lack of capacity to make health care decisions.
  • A living will is an advance health care directive document containing written instructions about providing or withholding life sustaining treatment when I am unable to make my own health care decisions due to lack of capacity to make health care decisions.
  • A living will alone cannot predict and respond to changes and developments in medicine, or respond to the changing circumstances of my condition when I am unable to make decisions. These are the reasons why I am completing a DPAHC naming my Health Care Agent to make decisions for me rather than using a living will.
  • It is very important that my Health Care Agent be familiar with the entirety of this document, Three Beliefs , and that my Health Care Agent and I discuss the contents of the document so that my Health Care Agent is prepared to make decisions on my behalf consistent with Three Beliefs .

2 See Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services, n. 25.

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