When you’re creating an estate plan, you may be focused on ensuring that your assets are handled in the ways you intend. But, that’s not the only thing you need to think about when you’re creating this plan. You should also consider what will happen if you become incapacitated.
Thinking about how your medical care decisions will be handled if you can no longer make decisions for yourself is an important consideration. You can make sure you have a say in these decisions by setting up an advance directive.
What is an advance directive?
Your advance directive is a written set of instructions for your medical care team. You can let them know what medical treatments and interventions you want and which ones you reject. This document can be as detailed or broad as you want.
You can set terms related to artificial nutrition and hydration, pain relief, life-prolonging care, palliative care, intubation and resuscitation. If you don’t want to be resuscitated, you should include a do not resuscitate order in your advance directive. You should also ensure that you understand the limitations of this document. For example, paramedics may still have to revive you if they’re called to care for you.
What should you do once your advance directive is set?
Once you have your advance directive written, you should provide a copy of it to your primary care physician and other members of your care team. You should also provide a copy to your local hospital and bring one with you if you seek care at any medical facility.
In addition to having your advance directive set, you can also provide someone with power of attorney to make medical decisions for you. This individual would make decisions regarding your care if they aren’t already covered in the advance directive. Working with a legal professional who is familiar with these matters can be beneficial, since they can help you to set everything up properly and in a legally-enforceable way.