Advanced directives are vital legal documents that empower individuals to make their Health Care preferences known in the event they are unable to communicate or make decisions themselves. They provide a way to ensure that personal values, wishes, and choices regarding medical treatment are respected and followed, particularly during critical or end-of-life situations. By creating an advanced directive, individuals can specify the types of medical interventions they do or do not want, appoint a Health Care proxy or power of attorney to make decisions on their behalf, and alleviate the burden on loved ones during emotionally challenging times.
Some people make advance directives when they are diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. Others put their wishes into writing while they are healthy, often as part of their estate planning. Four key advance directives that can be done NOW to prepare you and your family for emergencies include a Health Care Surrogate Designation (or Health Care Proxy), HIPAA Release, and a Living Will. You or your loved one might choose to complete one, two, or all three of the listed forms.
A Health Care Power of Attorney or “Health Care Surrogate”
A Health Care Power of Attorney allows you or your loved one to appoint another individual to make Health Care decisions on one’s behalf. If someone is incapable of making Health Care decisions due to illness, injury, or incapacitation, the designee has the power to make those decisions. It also allows chosen family members to access medical records.
A Health Care Power of Attorney can cover a broad range of health care decisions. Under this import document, your spouse or family member, or trusted friend, as your agent, is normally permitted to:
• Consent or refuse consent to any medical treatment that affects physical or mental health (except to authorize any act that violates your Living Will)
• Hire or fire medical personnel
• Access medical records and other personal information
• Determine the best medical facilities
A Health Care Power of Attorney is a comprehensive and flexible document. And it can be amended or revoked at any time as long as you or your loved one is competent. If you are the designee, you are authorized to weigh the situation, weigh the facts, consider your loved one’s intentions… and legally speak on his or her behalf.
Because an authorized agent may be asked to make sensitive and life-changing decisions on your or a loved one’s behalf, it’s important that they understand what the person’s wishes may be under different circumstances. We provide families with a checklist of comprehensive scenarios to discuss with loved ones.
The HIPAA Privacy Release
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) regulates how Health Care providers can share personal health information. Basically, HIPAA regulations are designed to protect patient privacy and confidentiality. It is critical that a Heath Care Surrogate or Proxy have immediate access to information regarding condition, prognosis, and potential treatment plans for decision-making purpose.
Specific HIPAA Authorization wording, either within the Health Care Power of Attorney, or as a standalone document, ensures that access. Signing a form at the hospital or doctor’s office only allows their provider’s information to be shared with an authorized agent, but if a specific general HIPAA Authorization is in place, it is effective in all medical and healthcare settings – including emergency rooms, and with new providers that may be involved in a course of treatment.
A Living Will – the “Right to a Natural Death”
A living will is more than just a legal document—it's a profound expression of your love and care for those closest to you. In moments when life takes unexpected turns and you may no longer be able to voice your wishes, a living will ensures that your choices are honored at the very end stage of life, when you are terminally ill, in a coma or vegetative state, in your final days. Here, you are permitting two doctors to make a medical decision to take you off of life support, such as a respirator or feeding tube, if they have certified that you have no reasonable chance of recovery. The goal is to avoid putting the heart-wrenching burden on your family to decide when it is “time to let go.”
Overall, having a complete set of Advanced Directives is crucial for ensuring your healthcare wishes are respected, and your loved ones know what to do for you if you become seriously ill or incapacitated. By defining your healthcare decisions in advance, you protect your dignity, alleviate stress for your family, and ensure that your treatment aligns with your personal beliefs and values. Advanced directives are not just legal safeguards; they are acts of empowerment and compassion that give you peace of mind – and help you “Take Charge of Life’s Transitions!”
