Advance Health Care Directives: A Great Relief in Difficult Times
Take Control with a Health Care Advance Directive…
Control your Medical Treatment with an Advanced Health Care Directive…
Having a health care durable power of attorney drafted before you become ill or incapacitated is the most effective and least expensive way available to legally assure that your medical preferences will be respected. Having this document will help you in the case you become unable to communicate due to a tragic accident or because of some kind of medical condition or disease. Do you want your life to be prolonged by artificial means? Do you want to be resuscitated if you are clinically dead? Do you want your respiration to be supported when your lungs fail? These and many other questions rise before your eyes and the eyes of those that you love in the case of a fatal disease or traumatic condition.
An Advanced Health Care Directive is a legal document in which you authorize a person you trust to make critical medical decisions on your behalf, should you be unable to express yourself due to unforeseen events. The person you designate is called your attorney-in-fact or your agent. That person will be your voice every time a doctor, a nurse, or any other medical staff needs you to make a decision regarding your treatment. Your agent will refer to the document and express your will.
You might have some religious beliefs, and in some way these beliefs can affect the way you would like doctors to treat you for any type of medical condition. Some people do not believe that their blood should be mixed with the blood of others. In such special cases, you must definitely have a healthcare power of attorney designating the person that will ensure this for you. However, the best practice is for every person over 18 years old to have a health care durable power of attorney regardless of race, national origin, financial condition, or religious belief.
It is highly recommended that you have your Advanced Health Care Directive drafted while you are healthy and completely conscious, so that no one can later on contest your power of attorney. The only defense in case a power of attorney is contested is that you made the decisions contained therein voluntarily, well aware, and informed of its significance and consequences.
A healthcare durable power of attorney should be drafted strictly according to the laws in your state. It is critical that you follow the law requirements in your state so that the document is legally binding. A simple formatting mistake may make your power of attorney invalid. For example, some states require two witnesses to sign, whereas other states require three witnesses to sign.
A durable power of attorney must be notarized. In other words, you and your witnesses must sign it in the presence of a notary public. The notary public will sign the document and stamp it with his or her official stamp. The notary must verify your identity and that of your witnesses before he or she signs it. The notary’s signature is the guarantee that the persons who are signing the power of attorney are actually the persons physically present before him or her.
Your witnesses should be of legal age, and they must be able to read and write. With their signatures they will be attesting that they read the document and that at the time they signed the document they were sure you were acting conscious and voluntarily. The witnesses can not be related to you or to the notary, and they should have no interest in the matter for which they are signing.