• Living wills
• Durable power of attorney
• Designated health care proxy

Each one performs a function for the subject of the document that may be preferred over another.

Living Will

The living will informs a medical professional regarding your preferred end-of-life medical treatment. The legally binding document will provide instructions on what kind of treatment you receive should you:

• Become terminally ill or injured
• With little hope of recovery; and
• Are incapable of communicating your wishes regarding medical treatment.

You can inform the medical professional that you do not wish to receive any kind of life-sustaining treatment. You can also specify what types of treatment you would want to receive or refuse.

Power of Attorney

You may have heard of this for use in other contexts. Power of attorney is a document that allows you to give permission to another person to make legally binding decisions on your behalf, like signing contracts. In the context of health care and end-of-life issues, a durable power of attorney allows you to bestow this right to make decisions on your behalf and this power will endure even if you become legally incompetent.

You may give a family member the power to make decisions regarding medical bills, government payments and insurance. Outside of health care matters, the person to whom you give power of attorney will be able to pay your bills or sign up for disability payments.

Health Care Proxy

The health care proxy could be considered parallel to the durable power of attorney. You can designate a person to be your health care proxy. This person will have the right to make decisions regarding your health care. This person will have access to your medical records and will speak to the doctors on your behalf. They can decide what treatment you will receive or refuse.

You could designate the same person to make legal and medical decisions within a power of attorney document. However, you may find good reason to have one person designated to make financial decisions and another to make decisions about your health care.

No Advance Directive No Problem

Most Americans do not have an advance medical directive in place. We may feel uncomfortable bringing up the subject with family or we may believe we’re too young to be thinking about such matters. However, some landmark legal cases like the Schiavo and Quinlan matters have shown the difficulties that may arise from not having an advance directive in place.

You may be more comfortable discussing such end-of-life issues with a lawyer. At the France Law Firm, we’re experienced in helping our clients through difficult decisions with compassion and clarity. Call us today to discuss advance medical directives with one of our attorneys.

The post What You Need To Know About Medical Directives appeared first on France Law Firm.

The Importance of Medical Directives

Medical directives allow you to instruct your family and doctors what to do in the event that you no longer have the abilities to do so yourself. Whether you become incapacitated because of an illness or an accident, your wishes will be met as long as you have medical directives.

These directives should be kept in a safe place, plus the person you give authority to and your doctors should all have a copy. When you give a copy of your directives to the appropriate people, you should also verbalize your wishes to ensure that everyone understands your wishes.

Duties

Duties of the person you assign as a decision-maker in the event that you can no longer make your own medical decisions are extensive. Thus, you and the person you are asking to make these decisions need to understand exactly what you are asking. The person you name will:

• Have access to and will receive all medical information about you;
• Confer with your doctors and nurses;
• Review your medical chart;
• Ask questions and get explanations about your health situation;
• Discuss any treatment options including whether you wish to continue life-sustaining treatment; and
• Authorize any transfers to other medical facilities or transfers of care to another doctor or team of doctors, including nursing homes.

It is important that you make your wishes well-known while you are still able to make these decisions.

Living Will

A living will lets your doctors know whether you want life-sustaining procedures and under which conditions. The person you name as your health care surrogate and your doctors must abide by the wishes you include in your living will.

The living will includes instructions in the event that you have a terminal condition that will result in your death because the condition is irreversible or incurable, if you are diagnosed with a condition that you may not come out of and the doctors are reasonably certain that you will not wake up, or if you are diagnosed as being in a persistent vegetative state and the doctors are reasonably sure that you will not regain consciousness.

Designation of Healthcare Surrogate

The designation of healthcare surrogate is the document that appoints another adult to make medical decisions for you should you become incapacitated. That person should know and understand your wishes, and you should be sure that the person you appoint will carry out your wishes. These include religious, cultural, moral and personal beliefs in addition to medical wishes. This is the person who will be making all of your medical decisions for you.

Advance Directives

Two main statutes guide advance directives. The first is the federal Patient Self-Determination Act and the second is Florida’s Health Care Advance Directive Act. The person you choose as your health care surrogate must be at least 18 years of age or an emancipated minor and must be of sound mind.

Though your advance directives do not need to be notarized to be legal, they will need to have two witnesses. The person you choose to be your surrogate cannot be a witness. Some people prefer to have these documents notarized in addition to having the witnesses sign. This may be important if you believe that another family member may interfere with your health care surrogate’s decisions made on your behalf.

Contact France Law Firm

If you are ready to create estate documents, including advance directives, contact France Law Firm to set up a consultation. Our attorneys will draft the documents you wish to instruct your health care surrogate of your wishes.

The post Understanding Medical Directives appeared first on France Law Firm.