What are the benefits and limitations of advance directives?
Advance directives can be an important tool for you as a consumer of mental health services to guide your care if your physician determines that you lack capacity to make your own health care choices. In Ohio, you may state your advance directives for mental health treatment by executing the two kinds of legal documents described above, the durable power of attorney for health care and the declaration for mental health treatment. Under Ohio laws, advance directives are only one aspect of informed consent to treatment. The right to informed consent means that you have the right to be given enough information to make your own decisions about your medical and mental health treatment. However, if a probate court finds that you are not competent to make these decisions, the court may appoint a guardian to make these decisions for you. If a probate court orders you to be admitted to a hospital for mental health treatment, the hospital can ask the court to issue an order to give you medicatio
