Definition:
Psychiatric advance directives are legal documents that specify a patient's preferred course of treatment to be taken in any periods of incapacity or crisis that may occur in the future. Psychiatric advance directives are developed while a patient is in a mental state that allows them to make competent decisions. Provisions may include directives about allowing or withholding treatment during psychiatric episodes; they may also be used to appoint a proxy decision maker. The person named as proxy then has the legal right to decide what course of treatment will be followed when the patient is found to be incapable of making those decisions. The specifics of psychiatric advance directives, and how they are applied, vary from state to state.
Psychiatric advance directives are legal documents that specify a patient's preferred course of treatment to be taken in any periods of incapacity or crisis that may occur in the future. Psychiatric advance directives are developed while a patient is in a mental state that allows them to make competent decisions. Provisions may include directives about allowing or withholding treatment during psychiatric episodes; they may also be used to appoint a proxy decision maker. The person named as proxy then has the legal right to decide what course of treatment will be followed when the patient is found to be incapable of making those decisions. The specifics of psychiatric advance directives, and how they are applied, vary from state to state.
Also Known As: PADs
