Mark Glendon

3 Reasons Having Advance Directives is Important

Retaining agency over your own medical decisions is important, but have you thought about who will make decisions for your medical care if you become incapacitated? This difficult question is faced every day by people across the world, and oftentimes, the burden of making judgment calls falls on the shoulders of family members.

Advance directives, however, can be a solution to this problem. These are legal documents that express your wishes should you become unable to communicate in a medical crisis. While this alone is reason enough to have advance directive documents in place, there are other benefits of having directives set up in advance, including:

Ensures You Receive the Care You Desire

Some people don't want to be placed on life support in a medical emergency, but others want all life-saving measures to be taken. With directives set up in advance, you can rest assured that you will receive the type of medical care you desire in the event of a healthcare emergency where you are unable to communicate.

Ensures Religious Directives Are Followed

Religious beliefs and practices are an essential component of life for many people, and many religious practices play a part in the handling of healthcare needs, especially in matters of the potential loss of life. Having directive documents in place before a serious medical incident occurs can provide you with peace of mind in knowing that things like religious rites will be handled according to your wishes in situations requiring religious services.

Allows You to Appoint a Representative

Some advance directive documents allow you to assign the role of a healthcare representative. Assigning power of attorney, for instance, allows you to appoint someone you trust to make medical decisions for you if you are unable to make these decisions yourself. You may need to work with a legal representative to create these directives, but having them in place before a healthcare emergency strikes can help you feel better about how your healthcare needs will be handled in the future.

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Mark writes often about estate planning. His articles may include topics like real estate closing attorney and business succession laws to help the people in needs. You can find his thoughts at elder law blog.