Advance Health Care Directives
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According to a Reuters article, nearly 37 percent of American adults have taken steps to have an advance health care directive prepared. Half of all those who took steps to have an advance health care directive prepared were not suffering from any type of chronic illness. In fact, overall, 38.2 percent of those with a chronic illness have advance health care directives, while 32.7 percent of healthy people have an advance health care directive. An advance health care directive lays out end-of-life care in the event of a serious illness or inability to make health care decisions. End-of-life care is a very personal matte, and is a conversation which has revived since January 1, 2016, when Medicare began reimbursing physicians for advance-care planning counseling.
All adults should strongly consider having an advance health care directive because life is uncertain at best. Far too many people think advanced care planning is about old age, however, a medical crisis can leave any person, at any age, unable to make his or her own healthcare decisions. If you were to be rendered unable to speak for yourself—whether through an accident or an illness—wouldn’t you rather your own decisions were carried out instead of leaving it to chance?
Having a comprehensive advance health care directive in place allows you to choose a person you would trust to make decisions on your behalf and can also take the burden off your loved ones in the event of an emergency or a debilitating illness. Having an advance health care directive prepared can seem like an overwhelming task—one that can be made substantially easier with a Sonoma estate planning lawyer.
Understanding Advance Health Care Directives
What Types of Decisions Will You Set Forth in Your Advance Health Care Directive?
Generally speaking, you will be detailing decisions regarding the use of emergency treatments to keep you alive in the event of a tragedy, such as CPR, artificial hydration and nutrition, comfort care and the use of a ventilator. To further detail these very specific decisions, you might want to consider a Physician Order for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) Form, which is a medical order for specific medical treatments you would want during a medical emergency. A POLST form is not a substitute for an advance health care directive, rather can work in conjunction with the directive and is particularly appropriate for those with a serious illness or advanced frailty.
Where to Start
Although it can seem overwhelming to think about all the issues related to an advanced health care directive, taking it one step at a time, and having a knowledgeable Sonoma estate planning lawyer by your side can make the task immeasurably easier. Start the process by thinking about the types of medical care listed above and ask yourself whether you would want none of them, all of them, some of them, or some of them only under certain circumstances. As an example, if you are now thirty years old, and suffered an unexpected, serious auto accident which you would likely recover from with time and medical treatments, then you might want any and all medical assistance.
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How to Select a Healthcare Agent
When choosing a healthcare agent—a person who will carry out your health care decisions should you become incapacitated—you will want to choose a person who, overall, shares your views regarding life and medical decisions. Your healthcare agent might be a family member, a friend, someone in your social circle or spiritual community, or your attorney. Typically, it is a good idea to also choose an alternate agent in the event your first choice is unable to step in. You will choose just how much authority your healthcare agent will have over your medical care.
You can choose to allow your healthcare agent to make the full range of medical decisions on your behalf or choose to allow your healthcare agent to make a few, very specific, medical decisions on your behalf. Always have a very frank discussion with your choice of healthcare agent before making it official. Some people simply do not want this level of responsibility, no matter how much they love and care for you.
Making Your Wishes Official
After you have carefully considered all aspects of your advanced health care directive and have discussed your decisions with your doctor, it is time to formally put those decisions and wishes into a legal document. Having an experienced estate planning attorney from the Gullotta Law Group can ensure your wishes are memorialized in a document which will be legally binding. Once your Sonoma estate planning lawyer has completed your advanced health care directive, you will want your doctor, your healthcare agent and your alternate healthcare agent to all have copies of the document.
You can tell your close family members where they can find a copy of your advanced health care directive and might even want to have one on file at your local hospital. Because you might want to make changes in the future, make sure you have a list of everyone who has a copy of your advanced health care directive so that you can exchange them when you update or make changes.