About PADs
- A psychiatric advance directive (PAD) is a legal document that documents a person’s preferences for future mental health treatment, and allows appointment of a health proxy to interpret those preferences during a crisis.
- PADs may be drafted when a person is well enough to consider preferences for future mental health treatment.
- PADs are used when a person becomes unable to make decisions during a mental health crisis.
“Enforcing Advance Directives”
Elizabeth Priaulx, TASC/NAPAS Senior Disability Legal Specialist, <u>Protection and Advocacy News</u>, Summer 2003, Volume 1: Number 1