Utah Declaration for Mental Health Treatment

The Utah Advance Health Care Directive Act, among other things, allows an individual to sign an Advance Health Care Directive and appoint an agent to make health care decisions on their behalf. However, "[a]n adult's current health care decisions, however expressed or indicated, always supersede an adult's prior decisions or health care directives." This raises the question as to how an agent or medical professional can help someone who is refusing necessary care or otherwise acting contrary to their best interests.

A common course of action in this scenario is to seek guardianship, possibly on an emergency basis, over the person who is acting contrary to their own best interests. However, this can be an expensive, invasive, and time-consuming process that may lead to a court dismissal of the guardianship or a guardianship that unduly restricts the protected person's rights.

One alternative that is worth considering in Utah for anyone with mental health struggles is a Declaration for Mental Health Treatment. The key difference between this declaration and an Advance Health Care Directive is that a Declaration for Mental Health Treatment may not be revoked if the principal is considered incapable of making mental health treatment decisions by two physicians. In such a scenario, a declaration allows the declarant's agent to make decisions about mental health treatment as expressed in the declaration even if the declarant expresses contrary preferences or attempts to revoke the declaration.

For an excellent article on psychiatric advance directives like Utah's Declaration for Mental Health Treatment, see Mental Health Directives in Estate-Planning Engagements in Trusts & Estates by Moira S. Laidlaw. Such directives are an important tool that strikes a balance between the potential inefficacy of an Advance Health Care Directive and the overbearing nature of a guardianship for individuals experiencing an acute psychiatric episode.

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