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End of Life Planning

TMAC 2024

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DISCLAIMER

This document is only relevant in the state of Illinois and is intended for general informational purposes only.

Consult a licensed attorney for legal advice before taking any further steps.

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By taking proactive steps now, you can help protect your identity and healthcare wishes—both during your lifetime and beyond.

Without clear end-of-life instructions, medical providers or family members may make decisions that don’t align with your wishes.

Clear documentation can provide clarity, ensuring your preferences are honored regarding how you are referred to, your dress and grooming, the medical treatment you wish to receive, who can visit you, who can speak on your behalf if you are incapacitated or pass away and much more.

In this presentation, we’ll explore some of the steps that can be taken to safeguard yourself against these uncertainties.

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Quick guide

Advanced Directives

Healthcare Power of Attorney
Living Will
Mental Health Treatment Preference Declaration
Practitioner Orders For Life-Sustaining Treatment

Hospital Visitation Directive

Funeral Pre-Arrangements

Organ Donation

Disposition of Remains

Death Certificate

Resources

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Advance Directives

Illinois law allows you to create four types of advance directives:

Health Care Power of Attorney
Living Will
Mental Health Treatment Preference Declaration
Practitioner Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment

Once these documents are completed It’s a good idea to give copies of these documents to:

Your agent(s) and successor agents
Your physician
Take a copy with you to the hospital
Share it with your family, friends, and anyone else involved in your care .

These forms can help ensure that your healthcare wishes are respected if you're unable to communicate them directly. Each document must meet specific legal requirements to be binding. Consult with an attorney or healthcare professional during the completion process.

Resources:

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Health Care Power of Attorney

In Illinois, individuals have the right to appoint an agent to make personal and healthcare decisions on their behalf (755 ILCS 45/2-1, 4-1) throughout their lifetime, including during periods of disability.

Third parties, such as healthcare providers, are required to honor the agent's authority.

Resources:

Illinois Short Form - Power of Attorney for Health Care.

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Living Will

In Illinois, individuals have the fundamental right to control decisions regarding their medical care, including the decision to withhold or withdraw death-delaying procedures in the case of a terminal condition (755 ILCS 35/1). The law acknowledges that patients’ rights can be respected even after they are no longer able to participate in decision-making about their care.

These decisions can be made known by making a written declaration (living will) instructing your physician to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatments if they are facing a terminal condition. This is particularly important for individuals who may not have a healthcare agent available to make these decisions on their behalf.

This declaration can include specific instructions, such as requesting that your hormone regimen not be stopped unless it conflicts with life-sustaining treatment.

Resources:

Illinois Department on Aging - Living Will Form

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Mental Health Treatment Preference Declaration

In Illinois, an adult of sound mind can make a declaration regarding mental health treatment preferences, including consent to or refusal of specific treatments (755 ILCS 43/10).

This document allows you to specify your preferences for three types of mental health treatments:

Psychotropic medication
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)
Short-term admission to a treatment facility (up to 17 days)

You can also appoint an attorney-in-fact to make these decisions on your behalf if you become unable to do so. The person you appoint is legally required to act in accordance with your stated preferences, or if those preferences are unclear, in a way they believe is in your best interest. The appointed person must accept the appointment in writing and has the right to withdraw at any time.

If a declaration is invoked and remains in effect at the end of three years, it will continue until you are no longer incapable of making decisions.

Resource:

Declaration of Mental Health Treatment Form

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Practitioner Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST)

In Illinois, all individuals have a fundamental right to make decisions regarding their medical treatment, including the right to forgo life-sustaining treatment (755 ILCS 40/5).

The lack of decisional capacity alone should not prevent someone from making decisions about forgoing life-sustaining treatment, especially if the individual has no known living will or health care power of attorney.

A POLST (Practitioner Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment) form allows patients with decisional capacity, or their surrogate decision-makers, to make decisions regarding life-sustaining treatment without judicial involvement. This form clarifies the circumstances under which these decisions can be made.

Resources:

Illinois Department of Public Health-POLST Guidance for Individuals

Illinois Department on Aging-POLST Form

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Hospital Visitation Directive

Ensures loved ones who are not legally related can visit you in the hospital. In accordance with

Residents have the right to consent to designated visitors, including:

Spouses (including same-sex spouses)
Domestic partners (including same-sex domestic partners)
Family members or friends

Residents have the right to withdraw or deny consent to visitors at any time.

Facilities must not restrict or deny visitation privileges based on:

Race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, or disability.

All visitors must be afforded full and equal visitation privileges in accordance with the resident's preferences.(410 ILCS 50/3.2 )

Resources:

Example Hospital Visitation Authorisation Form

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Funeral Pre-Arrangements

Pre-arranging funeral services allows individuals to select and pre-fund their desired arrangements, reducing the risk of conflicts or confusion by ensuring that their wishes are clearly documented.

This also helps provides guidance to the licensed funeral director, who is legally responsible for:

Carrying out disposition arrangements as specified by the deceased or their legal representative (755 ILCS 65/).
Filing the death certificate (410 ILCS 535/18).

Cemeteries may have their own policies for gravestones and markers, which might not be governed by legal documents or pre-arranged plans.

Resource:

Illinois Comptroller Consumer Guide to Pre-Need Funeral and Burial Purchases

Funeral Checklist and Planning Form

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Organ Donation

In Illinois, individuals can make directives regarding organ donation through various means (755 ILCS 50/):

A will
A power of attorney for health care
An organ donation card
A driver’s license notation
Joining the Organ/Tissue Donor Registry

Resources:

Illinois State Medical Society: A Personal Decision

Illinois Organ/Tissue Donor Registry

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Disposition of Remains

Although a funeral director must carry out disposition arrangements, individuals can designate who has the right to make final decisions about a person's body and funeral services. Valid written directions or designations can be made through (755 ILCS 65/):

A cremation authorization form (410 ILCS 18/65(b))
A prepaid funeral or burial contract
An Illinois statutory Power of Attorney for Health Care with the authority to direct disposition (755 ILCS 45/4)
A written instrument A will with written instructions for disposition
A written directive compliant with DORA

Resources

Illinois Disposition of Remains Act (DORA) and Forms

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Death Certificate

Only a licensed funeral director may file a death certificate. If a death occurs without medical attendance or falls under a coroner's or medical examiner's investigation, the coroner or medical examiner is responsible for completing the certificate of death.[Ill. Admin. Code tit. 77, pt. 500.10 (2024)]

In 2021, Illinois added an "X" gender option for non-binary individuals on birth certificates and ID documents. (15 ILCS 305)

If there are inaccuracies on a death certificate—such as incorrect name or gender—individuals can request a correction. This process can become complicated when gender identity is not recognized in the state where the death occurs. This can complicate matters such as life insurance payouts and may require legal intervention

Some states have passed laws to ensure death certificates reflect identities correctly (requires a person completing the certificate of death to record the gender as reported to them in the absence of a legal document.

References:

X Marker on ID Documents

Death Certificate Correction

D.C. Death Certificate Gender Identity Recognition Amendment Act

California Respect After Death Act