The Medical Treatment Planning and Decisions Act 2016
The MTPD Act 2016 enshrines advance care directives in Victorian law and creates clear obligations for health practitioners caring for people who do not have decision-making capacity.
To give Victorians confidence that their decisions about medical treatment will be respected, the Department of Health and Human Services has created the standard forms below, which allow Victorians to:
- Make an advance care directive which can include an instructional directive (which will provide specific directives about treatment a person consents to or refuses) and/or a values directive (which will describe a person’s views and values).
- Appoint a medical treatment decision maker (who will make decisions on behalf of a person when they no longer have decision making capacity).
- Appoint a support person (who will assist a person to make decisions for themselves, by collecting and interpreting information or assisting the person to communicate their decisions).
For further information on advance care planning, please visit the Better Health Channel.
Additional resources for health practitioners can be found elsewhere in health.vic’s Advance Care Planning section.
Other useful resources:
http://www.publicadvocate.vic.gov.au/upcoming-changes-to-medical-decision-making-laws
https://betterhealth.vic.gov.au/havetheconversation
Guardianship-and-administration-orders
Palliative Care National Standards 2016
Dementia Australia – start2talk
