The One Document
Everyone Should Have
What is an Advance Medical Directive and why should I want
one?
Let’s say, heaven forbid, you are in a car accident and lose
the ability to communicate. You are being kept alive only with the use of a
respirator. Your family is divided about whether they should wait to see if you
can recover, at a great expense, or allow you to die naturally and move on.
This is certainly not a pleasant scenario to imagine, but it is unfortunately
all too common.
An Advance Medical Directive can help avoid potential
conflicts from arising, by giving advance direction to, your family, your
doctor, and others about your intentions regarding medical care.
An Advance Medical Directive is typically drafted by an
attorney as part of your estate plan. It outlines your wishes regarding such
decisions as, whether you want to be kept alive by extraordinary means such as
respirators or other medical technology, whether you wish to donate organs,
whether you wish particular ethical and moral standards to be used in
determining medical decisions for you, etc.
This takes the heavy burden of making key decisions about
your health off of your loved ones and provides a clear path for health
professionals to follow when you cannot communicate your wishes directly.
An Advance Medical Directive also typically names a
health-care proxy or agent, a person, often a loved one, who stands in your
place to make authorized decisions on your behalf regarding medical treatment
decisions when you are incapacitated.
This is closely related to a Durable Power of Attorney,
which we will discuss in a later post.
It is never too early to get an Advance Medical Directive in
place. Talk to your loved ones. Discuss the type of treatments you may want in
the future. Make these decisions now so that should calamity arise, you and
your loved ones are prepared.
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