Blog: Health Directives Protect You and Your Family. Make Your Wishes Known Now...Prevent Conflict Later

There has been a lot of talk about living wills and health care powers of attorney lately.  These legal documents (often called advance directives or health care directives) are important because they make your medical wishes known if you can’t speak for yourself.  Here is a brief description of the four primary health care directives and how they protect your wishes:

A Living Will is the directive you use to explain your medical preferences in the event that you are unable to speak for yourself.   This is the document you use to indicate whether you would or would not want a feeding tube, a ventilator, etc.

A Health Care Power Of Attorney is the directive you use to choose someone to speak for you if you aren’t capable of making your own decisions.  This person, often called a health care agent or health care proxy, uses your living will or your other instructions as guidance to make informed decisions about your care.  It is important that you choose a trusted individual who will uphold your wishes when the time comes.

A HIPAA Authorization allows doctors and hospitals to give your medical information to the people you designate so they can make informed decisions about your treatment.

An Organ Donation Authorization is completed if you wish to be an organ donor.

Completing these documents is crucial, but it’s still not enough.  You also should do the following:

1.    You should talk to your loved ones.  Tell the person you’ve chosen as your health care agent that you’ve selected them, and be sure they’re willing to do it.  You also need to talk to your family about your medical wishes, especially about end-of-life care.  The more information your family has about your views, the easier the decision making process will be regarding your care, should the need arise. These discussions can help ease the emotional stress your family will feel when making difficult decisions about your care, particularly if you opt for less medical intervention toward the end of life.

 2.    If you have already completed these documents, it’s important to review them periodically to make sure they still reflect your wishes.  It’s especially important to update them if your family situation has changed (e.g. do you need to appoint a new agent) or if there’s a change in your medical condition. 

Also, changes in state or federal law can make it necessary to update your directives.  For example, if you completed your medical directives prior to April, 2004, they probably need to be updated to include appropriate HIPAA language (see above) in order to assure the hospital will provide your agent with important medical information about you.  Otherwise the hospital could refuse, leaving your agent in a very difficult position. 

It is also critically important that these directives be available to hospitals and doctors right away. So it is not only vital to have completed and updated your documents, it’s also essential that they be accessible in an emergency.