4 Things An Advance Medical Directive Should Address
While most people think of estate planning as wills, trusts, and which beneficiaries to choose for inheritance, estate planning goes much deeper than that. The heart and soul of estate planning is ensuring that your legacy and wishes are carried out after death. This does include gifts and bequests, but it also includes healthcare directives for end of life scenarios, life insurance policies, and powers of attorney. Understanding how to construct a holistic estate plan can help leave a lasting impact on generations to come.
One of these lesser known estate planning documents is an advance medical directive. These documents detail what medical care and procedures you consent to in an end of life situation. If the individual is unresponsive and unable to consent to a medical procedure, an advance medical directive will inform the caretaker of your wishes. This may help avoid unnecessary confusion and uncertainty, which can help ensure that an individual’s wishes are accurately followed.
For more in depth information on advance healthcare directives, consider speaking with a seasoned Florida estate planning lawyer from Loughlin Law, P.A. today. Schedule an initial consultation by calling the office at (561) 677-8384.
What is an Advance Medical Directive?
Advance medical directives are estate planning documents that detail the individual’s wishes and consents to medical procedures when they are unresponsive or in an end of life situation. They provide protection and information to medical professionals should the individual be unable to express their own desires, thereby avoiding confusion or putting the decision in the hands of another. Putting medical wishes into writing while the individual is healthy could help doctors and other medical professionals understand and accurately carry out those wishes when the individual is in their care.
Types of Advance Medical Directives
There are multiple types of advance medical directives, and each may cover a unique area of healthcare decision making. The first and most common is a living will. People who are building an estate plan may already have a will in place, but many fail to realize that wills can be used as an advance healthcare directive. Individuals can include their medical decisions and informed consent to procedures in a living will, which can be used to provide these answers if the testator of the will is incapacitated or otherwise unable to provide consent.
Other advance medical directives may include a Health Care Surrogate Designation or an Anatomical Donation. The former provides information and designates an individual that is authorized to make healthcare decisions on behalf of the individual. This document may also designate a secondary or tertiary health care surrogate, should the primary choice be unavailable. Additionally, individuals can designate their desire to donate organs after death with an Anatomical Donation advance medical directive.
Top Four Things to Include In an Advance Medical Directive
Understanding what to include in an advance medical directive can be challenging, especially without the insight and advice of an individual with legal experience. Many healthcare decisions may not be immediately apparent to a healthy individual, but could be crucial for a medical professional to have in a crisis. Failure to include a comprehensive list of healthcare decisions and consents in an advance medical directive could lead to confusion and uncertainty in the future.
A skilled Florida estate planning lawyer from Loughlin Law, P.A. could help clarify what is necessary to include in an advance healthcare directive.
#1: Power of Attorney
Durable power of attorney for healthcare, according to the National Institute on Aging, is a means of nominating a healthcare proxy or health care surrogate to make decisions on an individual’s behalf if they are incapacitated. Generally, this person is a family member, relative, or trusted friend who will be able to understand the wishes of the individual and make informed decisions. In Florida, this may require the individual to file a Health Care Surrogate Designation form, however official documents in writing with witnesses may also suffice.
#2: Treatment Options
There are many treatment options available for individuals in end of life situations, but many of them are invasive or against the wishes of an individual. Understanding and acquainting yourself with the many procedures that may be available could help one determine what you are comfortable with. These procedures may include resuscitation, intubation, hospitalization, and more. Some of the more common advance medical directives are Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) Orders, Do Not Intubate (DNI) Orders, and Do Not Hospitalize (DNH) Orders.
#3: Life Support
Life support is a valuable innovation in medical technology that helps physicians to medically maintain a non-responsive individual’s life functions. However, many people do not feel comfortable with the thought of life support and do not wish to put such a weighty decision on a healthcare surrogate. In these cases, it may be beneficial to include clear instructions on whether or not medical professionals are allowed to put the individual on life support. Providing consent in a written document or the opposite may be important to include in advance medical directives.
#4: Anatomical Gifts
Additionally, anatomical gifts are an important resource to the medical and medical research fields. Organ donation can help individuals waiting for transplants and could further medical research in numerous ways. However, these anatomical gifts must be collected very shortly after death to ensure the tissue does not degenerate. Without informed consent in an advance medical directive, the physician may need to discover who the healthcare surrogate is, contact them, and wait for a response to proceed. In this time, the tissue or organs may have already degenerated beyond usefulness. Therefore, including consent or refusal of organ donations in an advance medical directive could save crucial time needed to make anatomical gifts.
Contact a Florida Estate Planning Attorney Today
While advance medical directives can be crafted without the insight and advice of an attorney, there are many details that could benefit from their input. Understanding Florida state laws regarding issues such as healthcare surrogates, DNR Orders, anatomical gifts, and more could help clarify what should be included in advance medical directives.
This legal experience could be helpful in crafting effective and precise estate planning documents that could help build a lasting legacy for future generations. A skilled Florida estate planning attorney from Loughlin Law, P.A. may be able to help craft these documents. Consider scheduling a consultation today by calling the office at (561) 677-8384.
