Advance Directive in Michigan

A Michigan Advance Directive Has to Start With the Right Decision-Maker

For residents looking into a video advance directive in Michigan, you first need to know some special things about how it works in this state.

Michigan does not treat a standalone living will the way many other states do. The legally meaningful document is called the Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care, also known as a patient advocate designation. That is the document that names the person who can make medical decisions for you if you cannot make them yourself. They will also need to sign a document stating that they accept.

If your patient advocate may one day have to speak for you, they need a guide of your actual wishes that they can refer to. They need your wishes stated clearly, in language they can understand.

MIDEO is that guide. Dr. Ferdinando Mirarchi, a board-certified emergency physician and founder of MIDEO Health, created the platform after seeing how written advance directives can become unclear, misread, or difficult to apply during real medical emergencies.

MIDEO gives Michigan residents a way to pair the written directive with their own voice to the person they have chosen as their Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care. We built this into the process for Michigan patients so their agents can accept their roles easily, and we include an additional section in the patient’s MIDEO Advance Directive that covers the Michigan requirements.

Understanding Michigan’s Patient Advocate System

You need a document that gives your chosen patient advocate authority to make health care decisions when you cannot participate in your own care. In Michigan, the patient advocate can only act after the required determination that you are unable to make your own medical decisions. That means the person you choose may step in at one of the most serious moments of your life.

MIDEO helps patients and their chosen patient advocate to take that responsibility seriously. The 30-minute process connects your advance directive in Michigan to the person you name as your Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care so they have access to a video of you stating exactly what you want if you are medically incapacitated.

MIDEO is Clearer Than a Living Will in Michigan

A lot of people search for a living will in Michigan because they want to write down what treatments they would or would not want. That instinct is right. However, in Michigan, a living will is not the way to do it because living wills aren’t binding legal documents here.

That is exactly where MIDEO adds value. A video advance directive in Michigan gives your Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care a place where they can view and hear your own words and reasoning about how you would like them to handle specific medical situations if you can’t speak for yourself.

Michigan puts a lot of trust in the patient advocate. That person may have to make decisions about treatment, hospitalization, life-sustaining care, comfort, organ donation, or other deeply personal choices.

With MIDEO, you record your wishes in your own voice and a place where your Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care can view them.

MIDEO Understands Michigan’s Health Care Systems

Michigan patients do not always stay inside one system. A person may see a primary care doctor through Corewell, receive specialty care through University of Michigan Health and use Henry Ford or Trinity Health Michigan. An advance directive that is only in one portal won’t be seen at other health systems.

MIDEO uses a QR-code retrieval system that puts the patient’s video and written directive in front of clinicians quickly, even if they have never met the patient before.

Physician-Led

MIDEO was created by an emergency physician who understands what happens when advance directives reach the bedside late or open to interpretation. Patients can use the self-guided process or choose a physician-directed consultation, depending on how much support they need.

For anyone creating an advance directive in Michigan, MIDEO is your answer.

Start Your Michigan Video Advance Directive

Why Advance Care Planning in Michigan Must Have Someone Who May Speak for You

A usable advance directive in Michigan must include the person that will speak with you if you cannot. They must also provide a signature that they agreed to what you are asking.

This is a different approach than a lot of other states. Included in your advance directive must be your Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care. This is the legal tool that names your patient advocate and gives that person authority to make medical decisions when you cannot make them yourself.

That makes the person you choose incredibly important. But it also creates a risk most people do not think about. A patient advocate can be legally named and still be emotionally unprepared.

This is also why relying on a living will in Michigan can create false confidence. A living will can help describe what you want, but Michigan guidance makes clear that a living will alone is not legally binding.

To do it right, you need to name an advocate who understands what you want.

How can you make sure that your Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care knows your wishes? With MIDEO.

MIDEO helps you create a video advance directive in Michigan that shows your advocate exactly what you want in your words.

Talk With a MIDEO Doctor

Why Planning Ahead in Michigan Matters Before a Crisis

Michigan’s hospital systems have consolidated dramatically in just the last few years.

The state is now dominated by three giant systems — Corewell Health (formed from the 2022 Beaumont and Spectrum merger), Henry Ford Health (which absorbed Ascension’s eight Southeast Michigan hospitals in late 2024), and University of Michigan Health (which acquired Sparrow in 2023).

Together those three account for more than 60% of hospital revenue in the state.

Each of those systems runs its own electronic health record and way of handling advance directive documentation when a patient arrives unconscious.

Don’t Confuse MI-POST With an Advance Directive in Michigan

Michigan is more complex than most states because there is a separate document called MI-POST (Michigan Physician Orders for Scope of Treatment) for active medical orders in seriously ill patients.

A MI-POST is a medical order a physician signs. But it is the advance directive that states exactly what you want if you become medically incapacitated. This is the document the patient advocate you named will refer to when they need to speak for you.

It is also why creating a video advance directive in Michigan needs to be clear enough that no one has to interpret what they think you meant. It also has to be accessible enough that any physician in any hospital system can pull it up instantly.

That is exactly what MIDEO does. Additionally, MIDEO is a tool to have your MI-POST travel with you as well. MIDEO Health is constantly checking and reviewing the legal requirements for advance directives and healthcare power of attorney documents to make sure our patients’ documents are actionable wherever they are.

Get Started

A Better Michigan Advance Directive Experience Starts With Preparing Your Patient Advocate

Michigan gives residents a clear legal path for advance care planning, but it puts a lot of responsibility on your patient advocate. That person may one day have to speak for you, make medical decisions, and make sure your wishes are followed. That is why creating a medical power of attorney in Michigan needs a lot of thought and planning. It is also why the person you choose must physically sign a document stating that they agree to be your patient advocate.

Before a MIDEO directive is complete, the process helps you think through the parts of planning that your patient advocate may actually have to defend, including:

• The medical situations you are most concerned about
• The treatments you would want, refuse, or want handled conditionally
• When comfort should matter more than extending time
• Who should speak for you and why you trust that person
• How much flexibility your patient advocate should have
• Your wishes around organ donation and other personal decisions
• The values behind your choices

MIDEO makes that planning more personal. A video advance directive in Michigan gives your patient advocate something tangible that they can refer to. If they need to make a medical decision for you, all they need to do is pull up your MIDEO advance directive on their phone.

MIDEO gives them your voice.

Michigan Has a Patient Advocate System. Most People Still Leave Their Advocate Unprepared.

Michigan’s advance care planning system requires a Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care, and they must sign a form stating that they agree to be yours.

The problem is that a name on a form does not mean the person is ready.

A lot of Michigan residents may complete a medical power of attorney in Michigan and believe the work is finished. Others search for a living will in Michigan without realizing that Michigan does not treat a standalone living will as the legally binding tool many people assume it is.

While the patient advocate is the center of the plan, if that person does not understand exactly what you want, you aren’t protected.

The only way to make sure you’re protected is by making sure your assigned Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care is prepared.

MIDEO is that missing piece.

Create a Michigan Advance Directive in Your Own Words

Michigan Patients Need Advance Directives That Move Across a Complicated State

Michigan covers two peninsulas and more than 130 hospitals. And when there are multiple systems across a large state, that puts your medical wishes at risk if you don’t have them in a place where they can be accessed when they are needed.

Metro Detroit and Southeast Michigan

Southeast Michigan is one of the most complex care environments in the state. This is the most system-dense and most recently consolidated part of the state. After Henry Ford Health absorbed Ascension’s eight Southeast Michigan hospitals in late 2024, a single patient in the region may now move through:

• Henry Ford Health
• Corewell Health
• Detroit Medical Center
• Trinity Health Michigan
• McLaren
• University of Michigan Health
• Other specialty networks

That is why an advance directive in Michigan should not depend on one healthcare portal.

West Michigan

West Michigan is Corewell Health’s home territory — the system was built around the former Spectrum Health hospitals based in Grand Rapids and now anchors care across the region, paired with its Priority Health insurance arm. But patients here also move through:

• Trinity Health Michigan
• University of Michigan Health-West
• Mary Free Bed
• Other specialty or rehabilitation networks

A person in Grand Rapids may receive primary care in one setting, emergency care in another, and follow-up or rehab somewhere else.

That creates the exact kind of fragmentation that makes a paper based document an unrealistic resource for your patient advocate.

Mid-Michigan and the Thumb

The Lansing and mid-Michigan region shifted significantly when University of Michigan Health acquired Sparrow in 2023, folding the area’s dominant system into Michigan Medicine as University of Michigan Health-Sparrow. Patients here often split care between the local Sparrow-affiliated facilities and the academic resources in Ann Arbor an hour away.

Mid-Michigan patients can also receive healthcare from:

• McLaren
• MyMichigan Health
• Covenant
• Hurley
• Other community hospitals across the region

A video advance directive in Michigan is the only way to make sure that people can understand what you want in your own words.

When a patient advocate has to answer difficult questions, the video gives them something they can pull up immediately to see what you want in that situation.

Northern Michigan

Northern Michigan adds distance to the problem. This area is not as populated, and rural patients often have to travel upwards of an hour to receive medical care.

Patients may receive care through:

• Munson Healthcare
• McLaren Northern Michigan
• MyMichigan Health
• Corewell Health
• Other smaller regional hospitals

A medical decision in Traverse City often involves family members who live hours away.

That is why a Michigan directive should prepare the patient advocate before the crisis. MIDEO helps make the patient’s wishes easier to understand when family members are not all in the same room and the treating team needs direction quickly.

The Upper Peninsula

In the Upper Peninsula, the geography plays a huge role. Patients may rely on:

• UP Health System
• Marshfield Medical Center-Dickinson
• Aspirus
• Other regional facilities

In the case of the Upper Peninsula, some care may involve Wisconsin or lower Michigan depending on the situation and exactly where you are located. In this region, distance, weather, transfers, and cross-border logistics can play a role in your medical care.

MIDEO gives Michigan patients a way to create a directive that can travel with them and support the patient advocate wherever care happens.

The Sun Belt Snowbird Factor

Michigan also sends a large share of its retirees south for the winter, which means many Michiganders need a directive that works outside Michigan’s borders. A medical power of attorney filed only with a Michigan hospital or a Michigan registry does nothing in a Tampa or Phoenix emergency room. MIDEO’s QR-code retrieval works the same in any state, which is exactly what a snowbird’s directive needs to do.

Get Started With MIDEO in Michigan

You Shouldn’t Have to Untangle Michigan’s Rules Just to Feel Protected

Creating a medical power of attorney in Michigan should not require you to figure out all of the confusing legal details. Michigan’s rules are more particular than most states’, and most people never get them explained clearly.

Here are the questions many Michigan residents are really trying to answer before they decide how to build their directive:

“I found a living will form for Michigan online. Isn’t that enough?”

No. Michigan does not recognize a living will as a legally binding document. You can write one, and it can be useful as a statement of your wishes, but on its own, it does not carry legal authority here.

Michigan uses a medical power of attorney — a Designation of Patient Advocate — naming a person you trust to make decisions for you.

“What’s the difference between a medical power of attorney and MI-POST?”

A medical power of attorney (your Designation of Patient Advocate) is a planning document that names who speaks for you if you can’t speak for yourself, and it can be created by any healthy adult.

MI-POST (Michigan Physician Orders for Scope of Treatment) is a medical order signed by a physician for patients who are already seriously ill, telling clinicians and EMS what treatment to give right now.

If you’re planning ahead, you start with the medical power of attorney — not MI-POST. Patients with serious illness often end up needing both, and MIDEO can make sure the wishes behind any future MI-POST are unmistakable.

“Why does my patient advocate have to sign something too?”

This catches a lot of Michigan families off guard. Under Michigan law, the person you name as your patient advocate must sign a formal acceptance before they’re allowed to act on your behalf. If they never sign that acceptance, your document is not legally binding.

MIDEO’s process makes sure your advocate is genuinely prepared, has heard your wishes in your own words, and understands what they’re accepting.

“What happens if I just don’t do anything?”

In Michigan, doing nothing puts you in a very bad spot. Michigan has no family consent law. That means that there’s no automatic statute that hands medical decision-making to your spouse or adult children if you haven’t named a patient advocate.

Instead, your family may have to petition a probate court to be appointed as your legal guardian before they can make decisions for you. That’s a slow, expensive, and very public process happening during a medical crisis. A properly executed medical power of attorney is what keeps your family out of probate court.

“I don’t want my spouse or kids guessing at what I meant.”

And they shouldn’t have to. Even when you’ve named a patient advocate, that person still has to interpret your wishes — unless you’ve made those wishes unmistakable.

A MIDEO advance directive lets your family and your clinicians hear directly from you, in your own voice, so your advocate is carrying out your stated wishes.

“I split my care between different Michigan health systems. Will this follow me?”

That’s a real Michigan problem, especially after the last few years of hospital consolidation. Patients routinely move across networks. MIDEO keeps your directive tied to you, not to a single system’s portal. It’s retrievable by QR code in any healthcare setting in the state.

“What does the research actually say about whether video makes a difference?”

A growing body of peer-reviewed research — including work by MIDEO’s medical leadership, Dr. Ferdinando Mirarchi, co-authored with leading legal ethicist Professor Thaddeus Pope in The Journal of Patient Safety — has documented that written advance directives and POLST-type forms are widely misinterpreted by clinicians, contributing to both undertreatment and overtreatment.

A video directly addresses that problem by capturing the tone, intent, and clarity a written form can’t.

“I spend winters out of state. Does a Michigan directive still help me?”

A medical power of attorney filed only with a Michigan hospital or the state’s Peace of Mind Registry does nothing in a Florida or Arizona emergency room. MIDEO’s QR-code retrieval works the same in any state, on any hospital network so your wishes travel with you beyond Michigan’s borders.

“I want a living will in Michigan. Isn’t that the main document?”

Nope. A living will can explain your treatment wishes, but Michigan guidance is clear that a living will alone is not legally binding in the same way a Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care is. In Michigan, you must name a patient advocate and give that person clear instructions. MIDEO helps you do both.

“I already named a patient advocate. Isn’t that enough?”

No. Naming someone is only the first step. Your patient advocate may be the person doctors turn to when you can’t speak for yourself.

But if they only have a vague memory of what you once said, they may still hesitate, second-guess themselves, or be pressured by others.

A video advance directive in Michigan gives them your wishes in your own words.

“What if my family disagrees with my patient advocate?”

This happens all of the time. A patient advocate may have legal authority, but family pressure still can pressure them in ways that you might not want. For example, loved ones may try to reinterpret your wishes because they are scared, grieving, or not ready for the decision in front of them.

MIDEO helps keep the focus on what you actually said, not what others wish you had said.

“What is the difference between an advance directive, DNR, and MI-POST?”

They are not the same thing. A medical power of attorney in Michigan names your patient advocate.

A living will can describe your preferences.

A DNR addresses a very specific situation involving resuscitation.

MI-POST is usually used for people with serious advanced illness or frailty and contains medical orders for crisis care.

MIDEO helps patients think through the bigger picture instead of confusing one document for another.

“I signed something at the hospital. Doesn’t that mean it is handled?”

Maybe it is on file at that hospital. But that does not mean it will follow you everywhere. A form filed in one system may not be the form a different emergency department sees while trying to provide you with care.

“How do I know clinicians will understand what I meant?”

That is the problem MIDEO solves and why our team has put so much effort in getting the word out. Written directives and portable medical orders are misinterpreted often enough that Dr. Ferdinando Mirarchi’s peer-reviewed research has identified this as a patient-safety issue that can lead to both undertreatment and overtreatment.

MIDEO addresses that risk by pairing the written directive with your video, so clinicians and your patient advocate get your voice telling them exactly what you want.

“I do not want this to turn into a long legal project.”

It does not have to. MIDEO gives Michigan residents a practical way to create an advance directive that supports the patient advocate, travels with the patient, and makes your choices harder to misread when they matter most. The best part is that the entire process takes less than an hour.

Start With a Michigan Advance Directive Provider That Understands the Patient Advocate’s Role

If you are creating an advance directive in Michigan, you need a document and you also need to prepare your patient advocate.

That is why MIDEO is different. MIDEO helps patients pair their written directive with a video record of their wishes, retrievable by QR code, so the patient advocate and medical team can hear directly from the person whose care is being decided. If you are looking for a medical power of attorney in Michigan or a video advance directive in Michigan, start with MIDEO.

Start Your Michigan MIDEO Directive

Frequently Asked Questions About Medical Power of Attorney in Michigan

Does a medical power of attorney need to be notarized in Michigan?

No. Michigan does not require notarization. A medical power of attorney in Michigan (legally called a Designation of Patient Advocate) becomes valid when you sign it in front of two witnesses who also sign it. There’s no notary requirement and no court filing. However, the person you chose to be your medical power of attorney must personally sign the document.

But Michigan has an unusual witness rule. Your two witnesses cannot be your:

• Spouse
• Parent
• Child
• Grandchild
• Sibling
• Presumptive heir
• Physician
• Patient advocate
• Employee of your insurer or the facility treating you

In short, at least one of your witnesses generally can’t be a close family member or anyone who would inherit from you.

A national form downloaded online won’t warn you about this, which is one reason those forms sometimes get rejected at Michigan hospitals.

MIDEO’s process understands Michigan’s requirements.

How do I get a medical power of attorney in Michigan?

First, you choose a trusted adult to be your patient advocate and confirm they’re willing to serve. In Michigan, they have to formally accept the role in writing.

Second, you document your wishes about the care you would and wouldn’t want.

Third, you sign the designation in front of two qualified witnesses.

Fourth, your patient advocate signs a separate acceptance agreeing to the responsibilities Michigan law lays out.

MIDEO walks you through the process, including preparing your advocate and recording your wishes in your own voice.

How many patient advocates can I name in Michigan?

You name one patient advocate to act at a time. However, Michigan law lets you name successor patient advocates, and you should.

A successor is a backup who steps in if your first choice can’t serve. There are many reasons for this, such as if they are traveling, seriously ill, unreachable, or unwilling when the moment comes.

Without a named successor, an unavailable first choice can leave you with no one authorized to speak for you.

MIDEO helps you think through not just who your primary advocate should be, but who your backups are.

What is the difference between a medical power of attorney in Michigan and an advance directive in Michigan?

In Michigan, a medical power of attorney is the most important part of your advance directive. It is also called a Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care or patient advocate designation. This is the document that names the person who can make medical decisions for you if you cannot make them yourself.

An advance directive in Michigan can include that patient advocate designation plus written instructions about the care you would or would not want.

Remember, Michigan puts a lot of weight on the person you choose, and MIDEO is there to help them know exactly what you want when they need to make a decision on your behalf.

Who should I choose for my medical power of attorney in Michigan?

Choose someone who can actually carry your wishes. Your patient advocate must be able to listen carefully, stay calm under pressure, ask questions, and follow what you wanted, even if other family members disagree.

The person needs to understand the responsibility before they accept it.