Updated end-of-life documents can prevent drama

Directives drafted after 1998 offer more clarity for doctors and families

By Dan Nakaso

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Sep 11, 2012

~~<p>Hawaii residents with advanced health directives and powers of attorney for health care written before 1999 should consider writing new ones, the head of the University of Hawaii Elder Law Program says.</p>
<p>"If it's old, it may be worse than not having one at all," said Jim Pietsch, director of the Elder Law Program and an adjunct professor of geriatric medicine and psychiatry at UH's medical school. "You tie yourself into definitions that any good attorney may be able to attack. You're at the mercy of translations. What is a ‘terminal condition'? What is ‘hopeless'?"</p>
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Hawaii residents with advanced health directives and powers of attorney for health care written before 1999 should consider writing new ones, the head of the University of Hawaii Elder Law Program says.

"If it's old, it may be worse than not having one at all," said Jim Pietsch, director of the Elder Law Program and an adjunct professor of geriatric medicine and psychiatry at UH's medical school. "You tie yourself into definitions that any good attorney may be able to attack. You're at the mercy of translations. What is a ‘terminal condition'? What is ‘hopeless'?" Login for more...