How to Fill Out and Submit the Corewell Health Advance Directive

The Corewell Health advance directive is a Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care form you complete to name a patient advocate and record the medical treatment you do and do not want if you cannot speak for yourself. To make it valid, you fill in your advocate’s information and your treatment preferences, sign and date the form in front of two qualifying adult witnesses who also sign, and then get the completed document into Corewell’s records through MyChart, a registration desk, or the mail.¹ Because the form is governed by Michigan’s Estates and Protected Individuals Code, it is honored across any healthcare facility in the state, not only Corewell locations.²

Getting the Form

Corewell Health publishes a downloadable PDF through its advance care planning resources page.³ Paper copies are available at any Corewell Health hospital registration desk or primary care office. If you use MyChart, the patient portal has advance care planning tools and a way to upload the completed document after it is signed and witnessed.

Naming Your Patient Advocate

The advocate section is the heart of the form. Your advocate must be at least 18 years old, but Michigan law places no other statutory restrictions on who you pick.² A spouse, adult child, close friend, or anyone else you trust can serve. Choose someone who understands your values and can hold firm if a doctor or family member pushes back.

The form also has a line for a successor advocate, who steps in only if your first choice cannot or will not serve. A successor is not legally required, but without one your family may need to open a guardianship case in probate court if your primary advocate is unavailable.

For each person, write the full legal name, home address, and phone number. Add a cell number and, if space allows, an email. Hospital staff sometimes need to reach an advocate in the middle of the night.

Writing Down Your Treatment Preferences

The form has sections for describing the care you want and the care you refuse. You are not required to fill every line, but specificity spares your advocate from guessing during a crisis. Common preferences the form asks about:

Life-sustaining treatment such as ventilators and CPR when recovery is unlikely.
Artificial nutrition and hydration through feeding tubes or IV fluids if you cannot eat or drink on your own.
Comfort care focused on pain management rather than aggressive treatment.
Anatomical gifts, meaning organ or tissue donation after death, consistent with Michigan’s Uniform Anatomical Gift Act.⁴

If you want your advocate to have authority to approve withdrawing treatment that could result in your death, Michigan law requires you to say so explicitly and in clear, convincing language within the document. Vague wording is not enough. The form includes specific language for this purpose that you initial or check.⁵

One boundary to know before you sign: a patient advocate cannot authorize withholding or withdrawing treatment from a pregnant patient if doing so would result in the patient’s death.⁵

Signing the Form With Two Witnesses

Most mistakes happen here, and a botched signing makes the entire document legally useless. Michigan law requires you to sign and date the form in the presence of two adult witnesses, who must also sign.² If you are physically unable to sign, you can direct another adult to sign for you in the witnesses’ presence. Each witness must attest that you appear to be of sound mind and are not under duress, fraud, or undue influence.

Michigan bars a long list of people from serving as witnesses:

Your spouse, parent, child, grandchild, or sibling.
Your presumptive heir or anyone named in your current will.
Your physician.
Your named patient advocate or successor advocate.
An employee of your life or health insurance company.
An employee of any healthcare facility currently treating you.
An employee of a home for the aged where you reside.
An employee of a community mental health program or hospital providing you mental health services.

Coworkers, neighbors, and friends unrelated to you and unconnected to your medical care or insurance are generally safe choices. Notarization is not required for the designation to be valid in Michigan, though some people add a notary signature as an extra safeguard. A Michigan notary can charge up to $10 per notarial act.⁶

Your advocate also has to sign an acceptance built into the form. By signing, they take on a fiduciary duty to act in your best interests, agree that they cannot be paid for the role beyond reimbursement of actual expenses, and acknowledge that they can only authorize withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment if you clearly granted that permission.⁵ Your known wishes, expressed while you could still participate in decisions, are presumed to reflect your best interests.

Submitting the Directive to Corewell Health

A signed directive only helps you if clinicians can actually see it. Three ways to get it into Corewell’s electronic health record:

MyChart upload. Log in and upload a scanned copy or clear photograph of every page, including the signature and witness pages.
In-person delivery. Bring the directive to the registration desk at any Corewell Health hospital or primary care office. Staff will scan it into your record and return the original.
Mail. Send the original or a photocopy to the Health Information Management department at one of Corewell’s regional processing centers.

Once processed, a flag appears in your electronic health record so emergency room physicians and specialists can pull up your treatment preferences and advocate contact information within seconds. Most submissions are visible in the system within 48 to 72 hours of receipt.

Keep the original in a location your advocate knows about, such as a fireproof safe or with your personal papers. Give copies to your patient advocate, your successor advocate, your primary care physician, and any specialist you see regularly. If you are ever admitted to a non-Corewell facility, that hospital will not have access to Corewell’s records, so a physical copy or a separately uploaded version matters.

When the Advocate’s Authority Starts

Your advocate has no authority while you can still make your own decisions. The designation only activates when your attending physician and either a second physician or a licensed psychologist determine in writing that you are unable to participate in your medical care. Both clinicians must document the finding in your medical record and review it at least once a year. If you regain the ability to make decisions, your advocate’s authority is suspended and you take back control. If there is a dispute about your capacity, anyone involved can petition the probate court for a ruling.

Changing or Revoking Your Directive

You can revoke your patient advocate designation at any time and by any method that communicates your intent, whether verbally, in writing, or by gesture if that is all you can manage. This right persists even after you have been determined unable to participate in medical decisions.⁷

Two events trigger automatic changes:

Divorce. If you named your spouse as your advocate, the designation is suspended when a divorce, annulment, or separate maintenance action is filed and revoked when the judgment is entered, unless you named a successor advocate who then takes over.⁷
A new designation. Signing a new patient advocate designation automatically revokes any prior one that conflicts with it.

If you revoke verbally, anyone who witnesses the revocation must describe the circumstances in writing, sign it, and notify the advocate if possible. Your physician or healthcare facility must note the revocation in your medical record and bedside chart. To update your directive on file with Corewell Health, submit the new signed and witnessed document through the same channels described above.

Mental Health Decisions and a Separate Directive

A patient advocate designated under MCL 700.5506 can hold authority over both physical and mental health treatment.² Michigan also recognizes a separate psychiatric advance directive for people who want to plan specifically for mental health crises, and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services publishes its own form for that purpose.⁸

Michigan law also lets you waive your right to immediately revoke the designation as it relates to mental health treatment. If you include this waiver, a revocation of the mental health portion is delayed by 30 days after you communicate the intent to revoke. The provision exists because some psychiatric conditions cause patients to reject treatment they previously decided they needed. Talk with a mental health provider before you include or decline this waiver.⁵

1
Corewell Health. Advance Care Planning
2
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 700-5506 – Designation of Patient Advocate
3
Corewell Health. Advance Care Planning Terms and Definitions
4
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 333-10105 – Donor Making Anatomical Gift
5
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 700-5507 – Patient Advocate Designation Statement and Acceptance
6
State of Michigan. Notary Services
7
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 700-5510 – Revocation
8
Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. Psychiatric Advance Directive