Enduring guardianships, enduring powers of attorney and advance care directives

In most Australian jurisdictions, a person ‘with capacity’ can nominate a substitute decision maker to make decisions about their health care and lifestyle if they become incapable of making their own decisions. The document giving this authority can also describe how they would like those decisions to be made. This document may be called an ‘enduring guardianship’ or an ‘enduring power of attorney’. The name of the document may differ between states and territories.

To ensure the preferences of people with developmental disability are documented and enabled, the nomination of a formal decision maker is an important consideration for those with capacity (or who can be supported to make decisions) as likelihood of loss of capacity may be higher than in the general population due to increased risk of dementia. For more information, see Legal resources on decision making for people with developmental disability.

An advance care directive documents the circumstances in which a person wants certain forms of treatment to be provided or withheld, and may include specific instructions about withholding life-sustaining medical treatment. For advice, see Advance care planning and end-of-life care.