HEALTH CARE DIRECTIVE
HEALTH CARE DIRECTIVE
Ensuring Your Voice is Heard
If you have been working on your living will, you have likely come across the term “advance health care directives.” An advanced health care directive gives you more control over your health care decisions when you are unable to make your own decisions. You can consider them to be your guidelines laid out for others in regard to your treatment preferences.
In Connecticut, your advance directives include a living will with health care instructions as well as the appointment of a health care representative. This health care agent is a person who you decide to make important health care decisions on your behalf.
You may feel like you do not want or need an advance directive because you are positive you will be able to clearly speak for yourself when receiving treatment. That is not always the case. Should you be incapacitated in an accident or suffer an unexpected trauma that should lead to you not being able to speak for yourself, you will want an advanced healthcare directive so that your family members and medical professionals are aware of the types of treatments you are comfortable with receiving.
Life is unpredictable; keep your family members from guessing when it comes to your health care wishes.
When Should You Create an Advanced Healthcare Directive?
The best time to create your advanced health care directives is now! You may think you are too young to plan something as dreadful as your end-of-life care, but laying out your medical decisions, even when you are not currently faced with any, can remove the guesswork from what you wish to happen should you be in a position where you can not properly communicate your health care wishes.
You have the right to determine your medical treatment, and that right extends to when you are unable to communicate the treatments you are and are not comfortable with. That right even expands to after you pass, informing your family and medical staff what you would like to happen to your remains and whether you are comfortable with organ donation.
Because of how unpredictable life and health can be, it is important to get your advance directive in order. It can bring your family peace of mind when trying to determine your wishes.
When Will You Benefit Most From an Advance Directive?
While your advance directive will be helpful in any situation where you need medical treatment but are unable to communicate your wishes, it is most commonly used when determining your end-of-life wishes.
Things like feeding tubes, CPR, dialysis, and other life-extending measures are all covered under your advance directive. You can determine if you do or do not want any of these or any other life-extending measures. You can determine the circumstances where you would like to opt out of measures that preserve the body, such as perceived quality of life. If you would not want to receive life sustaining treatment if you will be in a state of permanent unconsciousness or left with a permanent medical condition that will result in the loss of your quality of life, you can specify that you would not want life sustaining treatment.
Your advance directive will also help your family or medical professionals determine what you would like done with your remains after you pass. If you would like to donate your organs, you would claim so in your directive. It is important to remember that certain life sustaining measures may be necessary during the harvest of your organs.
Similarly, if you would like your body donated to science, your advance directive should state as such. This should include the organizations you are comfortable with your remains being donated to.
When Does Your Advance Directive Take Effect?
How Are Your Healthcare Decisions Determined Without an Advance Directive?
Find yourself in a position where you are unable to communicate your medical preferences, and you do not have an advance directive. Your physician may turn to a family member or other person to determine the actions they will take. They will discuss with your next of kin, close relative, or your health care agent, should you have one, if you ever spoke about your medical wishes with them.
You should refrain from relying on oral communication when discussing your end of life wishes. Documentation is required for the specifics of end of life care decisions. If there is a disagreement on what you want done, it may require court intervention, leaving you and your family in a precarious position.
Do You Need an Advance Healthcare Directive Lawyer?
Like many legal filings, it is optional to hire an attorney when you are creating your advance directive. However, working side-by-side with an experienced attorney can be the difference between receiving the specified treatment you are comfortable with and a massive headache for your family.
Call (203) 446-4725 to speak with our team of compassionate, experienced attorneys. Don’t leave your major medical decisions up to chance. You can have peace of mind that your documents are in order, everything is filed correctly, and your wishes are known by the people who can assist your important decision.
