The Legal Support You Need
Advance directives refer to a group of powerful and necessary legal documents that allow you to make clear your desires and preferences as they relate to your healthcare in a variety of possible scenarios, and in particular those in which you may be unable to communicate those wishes yourself in the moment or during a particular time frame.
Understandably, for many people, thinking about or discussing healthcare-related wishes and scenarios can be scary, overwhelming and/or stressful. But these discussions are also a strong and important way for you to help the people who care about you and those caring for you in the event that they have to make decisions based on your wishes.
When your wishes are clear, there is no uncertainty or regret. Advance directive documents help ensure that your healthcare and the treatment you are receiving is in alignment with what you truly want, even and especially when you are unable to share those desires yourself.
Sometimes referred to as living wills or advance healthcare directives, advance directives will typically include the following documents:
- Living Will: This is a statement that outlines your preferences for specific medical scenarios, such as artificial ventilation, CPR and end-of-life. It is your way of communicating to your healthcare team as well as your loved ones about what you want (and don’t want) related to medical interventions and the efforts to keep you alive. You can also document your preferences related to pain management and organ donation.
- DNR: A DNR order (also referred to as a Do-Not-Resuscitate Order, Do Not Attempt Resuscitation, Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, no code or allow natural death) documenting your preference related to cardiopulmonary resuscitation in the event that your heart stops beating.
- Healthcare Proxy or Durable Power of Attorney for Healthcare: With this document, you are able to designate a trusted person (known as your healthcare agent or proxy) to make medical decisions on your behalf in the event that you become incapacitated or unable to make decisions yourself. The individual you designate should be one who fully understands your values as a whole, and your wishes related to medical treatment more specifically.
- Medical Power of Attorney: With this document, you are designating someone to make and communicate medical decisions on your behalf, similar to a healthcare proxy.
Ask Us How We Can Help
A law firm with a dedicated estate planning practice area has the expertise to guide you through the process of clarifying your wishes and making sure they are reflected accurately and in a way that is legally valid.
Our team at Cordoba Legal will take the time to make sure your wishes, preferences and desires are articulated, shared and documented in a way that honors your choices, potentially reduces uncertainty or family conflict and, ultimately, ensures that in the event that they are used, the experience is reflective of your deepest values.
When you take the time to make sure your advance directives are created and up to date, you are not only asserting your own agency and autonomy, but also for you and your loved ones and anyone who cares about you, you are giving the important and precious gifts of clarity and direction. This is how you create true peace of mind for yourself as well as for important others in your life.