Five Wishes New York

Five Wishes meets the legal requirements for an advance directive in New York. Just like in 41 other states, you can use Five Wishes in New York to express how you want to be treated if you are seriously ill and unable to speak for yourself, using a document that is easy to understand. All you need to do is check a box, circle a direction, or write a few sentences. Once it is signed and witnessed, your Five Wishes is a legal document. Additionally, the state of New York has the following instructions regarding a Health Care Proxy that only applies to residents of certain institutions:

If in a mental hygiene facility operated or licensed by the office of mental health, "at least one witness shall be an individual who is not affiliated with the facility and, if the mental hygiene facility is also a hospital..., at least one witness shall be a qualified psychiatrist.

If in a mental hygiene facility operated or licensed by the office of mental retardation and developmental disabilities, "at least one witness shall be an individual who is not affiliated with the facility and at least one witness shall be a physician or clinical psychologist who either is employed by a school named in section 13.17 of the mental hygiene law or who has been employed for a minimum of two years to render care and service in a facility operated or licensed by the office of M.R. & D.D., or who has been approved by the commissioner of M.R. & D.D. in accordance with regulations approved by the commissioner. Such regulations shall require that a physician or clinical psychologist possess specialized training or three years experience in treating developmental disabilities.

N.Y. Pub. Health Law §§2981(b) and (c) (McKinney 2004)

--Excerpted from National Advance Directives: One Attempt to Scale the Barriers, by Charles P. Sabatino, Esq., National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys Journal, Volume 1, 2005