Annually, 139.8 million visits are made to emergency rooms each year, and while some people are able to communicate their wishes to doctors, others may not be able to. As your Seattle Advance Healthcare Directive attorney, we understand the importance of:
- Communicating your wishes to your doctor
- Outlining your end-of-life instructions
You have a right to make decisions about your own medical treatment, but if you’re unable to communicate these desires, an advance healthcare directive, also known as an advance directive or living will, states your wishes.
We can guide you in creating a living will and ensure that you have all of the necessary provisions in place to have your wishes carried out.
What Is an Advance Healthcare Directive?
An advance healthcare directive is a document that gives your instructions to healthcare providers for the:
- Type of care you want to receive
- Extent of the care you receive
You can outline whether you want life-saving treatment, life support, transfusions, blood products and other care. We know that you have a lot to consider. As your Seattle living will lawyer, we’ll ask the hard or forgotten questions that can greatly impact your decisions.
For example, you may not want to be on life support, or on support only for a specific period of time.
An advance healthcare directive takes the burden off your family to make decisions on your behalf. Your wishes will be on paper in a legal document that can be used in conjunction with a Durable Power of Attorney for healthcare in which you authroize someone else to speak on your behalf if you’re unable to speak for yourself.
How an Advance Healthcare Directive Can Help You
Your advance healthcare directive helps you – and your loved ones – by ensuring your wishes are followed. For your loved ones, it will:
- Reduce conflicts between family members on the care you receive, especially if it has to do with removing you from life support.
- Minimizes stress on your loved ones because they won’t have to make difficult decisions on your behalf
We also find that an advance healthcare directive saves you from pain, unwanted hospitalization and procedures. You can specify desired spiritual care and preference within the directive, too.
Who Needs an Advance Healthcare Directive?
Planning for end-of-life understandably is something people tend to put off. You never plan to fall ill, go into a coma or become unresponsive. Creating a directive while you’re healthy will ensure your voice is heard, no matter what happens in the future.
If you haven’t created an advance healthcare directive, you should.
Persons with certain diseases or health conditions that can impact their ability to make decisions should prioritize their directive. For example, if you have early signs of dementia, you may have a limited time to put into place the necessary legal documents.
Without an advance healthcare directive, the responsibility for your medical decisions will fall to a legal guardian, spouse, children (all of them together) who are over 18, parents, siblings over 18 and will go down the line further.
Is a Healthcare Directive the Same Thing as a Living Will?
Yes. A Healthcare Directive is also known as a living will or an advance directive.
An advance directive states your wishes for end-of-life care if you are terminally ill and unable to make your own decisions. In this document, you can provide instructions to healthcare providers about the medical treatments you may or may not want.
For example, you can outline:
- Medications you wish or refuse to receive
- Treatments you want or don’t want to receive
- Whether you want your life prolonged and for how long
A Seattle Healthcare Directive attorney can guide you through the process of creating an advance directive that communicates your wishes. Your attorney can also help you draft a Durable Power of Attorney that will work with your advance directive.
How Do Power of Attorney and Healthcare Directive Work Together?
Although the Durable Power of Attorney for Healthcare and Healthcare Directive are separate legal documents, they can be combined and work together to:
- Outline your end-of-life medical wishes
- Authorize a trusted individual to carry out your wishes on your behalf
An Advance Directive provides specific instructions about the type and extent of care you wish to receive if you are unable to speak for yourself. For example, you can state whether you want life-sustaining treatment or specify certain circumstances under which you want life support removed.
Your directive can be as specific or general as you want.
A Durable Power of Attorney for Healthcare allows you to name a person you trust as your Attorney-in-Fact, also known as your Health Care Agent. This individual can then carry out the medical decisions you made in your Advance Directive on your behalf.
These documents work together to ensure that your wishes are known and that a person of trust has the authority to make medical decisions on your behalf.
Both of these documents should be included in your estate plan to ensure your wishes are carried out even when you cannot make decisions yourself. A Seattle Healthcare Directive attorney can assist with drafting this essential document, along with a Durable Power of Attorney.
Hiring A Seattle Attorney Near You to Help You with Drafting an Advance Healthcare Directive
An Advance Healthcare Directive is an important legal document that expresses your wishes for end-of-life care. It is critical to draft this directive with care to ensure your instructions are carried out if the need arises.
Working with a Seattle Advance Healthcare Directive attorney is key. An experienced attorney will help you create a living will that outlines your desires, but they can also assist with other planning needs.
At ELG Estate Planning, we know that your needs and goals are unique. Your estate plan should be a reflection of that individuality. We’ll work alongside you to understand your needs and wishes, and then build a plan that will give you and your family peace of mind.
Contact us today to schedule a consultation.