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 breathing to be supported when your lungs fail? These are just a few of the many questions that may arise for you and your loved ones when faced with a life-threatening illness or traumatic condition. A robust estate planning tool used to answer these questions is an Advance Health Care Directive (HCAD). An HCAD is often written before you become ill or disabled. It is considered one of the most effective and least expensive ways available to legally ensure that your medical preferences will be honored when you are unable to communicate due to a tragic accident or some type of medical condition or terminal illness.
A health care directive is a legal instrument that authorizes someone you trust to make critical medical decisions on your behalf in the event that you are involved in an accident or fall into a coma and are unable to express yourself. The person you name is called your attorney in fact or your agent. This designated person will speak for you whenever a doctor, nurse, or other medical staff member needs you to make a treatment decision.
You may have some religious beliefs, and in some ways these beliefs may affect how you would like to be treated by doctors for any type of medical condition. Some people do not believe that their blood should not mix with the blood of others. In specific cases, you must have a health care power of attorney. However, best practice is for everyone over the age of 18 to have an HCAD.
It is strongly recommended that you have your HCAD drawn up while you are healthy and fully conscious so that no one can challenge your power of attorney later. The only defense in the event of a challenge to a power of attorney is that you made the decisions contained in it voluntarily, with full knowledge and information of its meaning and consequences.
An HCAD must be drafted in accordance with the strict laws of your state. It is essential that you follow the requirements of the law in your state for the document to be legally effective. A simple formatting error can invalidate your HCAD. You should review the requirements in your state to avoid future cancellations of the document.
A general and basic requirement is that the HCAD be notarized. In other words, you and your witnesses must sign it in the presence of a notary public. The notary public will review the document and your identity. He or she will ask if he understands what he is about to sign. Once you and your witnesses have signed, the notary public will sign the document and seal it with their official seal. The notary’s signature is the guarantee that the people who sign the document are really the people they say they are and that they were physically present before it.
Your witnesses must be of legal age and must be able to read and write. With your signatures you will be attesting that you read the document and that at the time you and they signed the document you acted voluntarily and in good spirits. The witnesses cannot be related to you or the notary. They must be people with no interest in the situation.
You don’t have to pay a fortune to get an HCAD. You can hire a lawyer to make one specially designed for you, or you can just do it yourself by filling out a standard form. Regardless of your choice, go ahead and get your HCAD today. Tomorrow may be too late.
