April 9, 2025 – Under Wisconsin law, competent adults have the right to control decisions about their future medical care, including the right to accept or refuse treatment, the right to appoint an advocate to speak for them if they are incapacitated, and the right to be an organ or tissue donor.

Yet, in Wisconsin, “next of kin” – including spouses, parents, and adult children – have no automatic legal authority to make health care decisions – unless you have a Power of Attorney for Health Care (POAHC).

"Without it, your family can be forced into costly and time-consuming guardianship procedures just to gain control over a loved one’s medical care," said Jon Fischer, an elder law and special needs attorney with McCarty Law and currently secretary of the State Bar of Wisconsin's Elder Law and Special Needs Section (ELSN) board.

"The court process can be avoided in most cases if you do advance care planning,” said Ben Adams, retired, of McCarty Law in Appleton, and an advisor to the ELSN.

Planning Guide PDF Available Free April 8-25

Starting April 8 and continuing through April 25, 2025, you can gain access to the free PDF from the State Bar: A Gift to Your Family: Planning Ahead for Future Health Needs, a health care decisions planning guide, also available at wisbar.org/healthcare.

As it does each year, the State Bar offers a PDF of this guide in honor of Gov. Tony Evers Proclamation of Healthcare Decisions Week in Wisconsin, April 14-20, 2025, and National Healthcare Decisions Day (NHDD) on April 16, 2025. This annual initiative ​serves as a reminder to let your family know your wishes about advance care planning. Use this event to talk to your family and clients about their needs as well.

The guide is available for purchase before and after this time period for $4 for State Bar members and $5 for nonmembers. There are also guides available for residents of Minnesota and Illinois.

How to Order A Gift to Your Family in Print

A Gift to Your Family offers practical insights on a range of issues surrounding health care decisions, such as power of attorney for health care, living wills, and organ and tissue donation. The guide also includes state forms to help people put their wishes in writing.

The 24-page A Gift to Your Family, now in its eighth edition, initially was produced in 2000 through a partnership with the Wisconsin Hospital Association, the Wisconsin Medical Society, and Gunderson Lutheran Medical Center.