It will soon be easier for Michigan hospitals and doctors to check to see if their patients have “advance medical directives."
The directives help doctors understand how a patient wishes to control the medical care they receive. Advance directives are legal documents that allow individuals to specify patient advocates, religious preferences, and other decisions about end-of-life care.
Governor Rick Snyder is scheduled to sign legislation creating a central database for medical directives later this afternoon.
“People can say…with confidence…they know that if they fill one of these out and it’s registered….there’s much better hope that it will be picked up in time so that it really can be valuable in terms of someone making those decisions," says Snyder.
Michigan will be the first state in which people can have their advance directives accessible throughout the country.
