Facts about Living Wills and Advanced Medical Directives
PrintDescription: A living will and all the directives it contains is an important part of estate planning. It is a legal document and you need full authorization and witnesses for it to be valid. A solid living will specifically dictates your healthcare wishes.
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A living will is an important legal document that states your wishes regarding healthcare in times when you no longer have the capacity to speak for yourself and create this decision on your own. By having this document available, your family and medical personnel will be guided accordingly as to what they can or cannot do in case you suffer from coma, unconsciousness or mental incompetence.
In order for you to reinforce your living will, it also becomes necessary that you appoint a health care representative. Your health care representative is the person who has full authority to implement the wishes as outlined in your living will.
Your living will contains advanced medical directives that you will want to receive or have withdrawn whenever you become physically or mentally incapacitated. An example of this concerns life-prolonging interventions. These include the use of respirators as well as the provision of nutrition and hydration through artificial means.
When you become physically unconscious, IV feeding can be provided for you on a short-term basis and tube feeding can be delivered for long-term durations. Also included are diagnostic tests that can further be made as well as surgery, administration of drugs, dialysis, and blood transfusions.
Another directive that can also be included pertains to organ or tissue donation. Although this may be optional, having your family and more importantly, your health care representative, informed with regards to organs and tissues you want donated is very crucial. By making your wishes known, it is possible to preserve the tissues or organs you want to donate so that they become medically available for any transplantation.
When you are very old and living in hospice care, you can also include a "do not resuscitate" or DNR order. Usually when a person goes into cardiac or pulmonary arrest, the individual is given CPR and other resuscitating procedures to save his or her life. However, if you have a health care representative who can show proof to medical personnel about your DNR order, then they will have to comply with your wishes.
This choice is often very hard to accept by family members, therefore it is always important that you talk to them so that they will understand your decision whenever the time comes.
A living will and all the directives that it contains is an important part of estate planning. Since it is a legal document and you need full authorization and witnesses for it to be valid, you must consult a certified estate planner (like the Estate Planner Austin TX).
There are also some conditions and requirements that must be met in choosing a health care representative. With the aid of a planner such as Estate Planner Austin TX, you will be able to comply with these guidelines without making any mistakes. A solid living will can also be made that will respect the healthcare wishes you want for yourself.
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For more estate planning needs, visit estate planner Austin TX, where you can settle your assets and secure your future. Article Source: Eulogy Site - http://EulogySite.com