According to the National Institutes of Health, it is easier to receive the most desirable health care after creating plans ahead of time. Examples of these plans include living wills and health care directives. Both options help patients take control of important medical decisions, often ensuring that providers cater to their preferences. Even if a patient becomes incapacitated and unable to voice their decisions, these estate planning documents provide clear, legal instructions. While living wills and health care directives are particularly suitable for those approaching their twilight years, it is never too early to begin advance care planning. A consultation with an estate planning attorney in Florida or Minnesota is often the first step for patients (both young and old) who take their medical autonomy seriously. Consider contacting Roulet Law Firm, P.A. to learn more about health care directives and living wills. Call our Florida office today at (941) 909-4644, or our Minnetonka, Minnesota location at (763) 420-5087 to schedule your consultation. Or you can fill out the contact form on this page and a member of our team will reach out to you to schedule.
What Are Health Care Directives in Florida?
The Florida Bar refers to health care directives as “advanced directives,” and the two terms are interchangeable. The Health Care Transparency initiative in Florida states that health care directives revolve around medical autonomy. Every patient in Florida has the right to decide which treatments to accept or reject. However, if you were unable to express your wishes for your health care, your family may need to go to the court and establish a guardianship in order to make decisions on your behalf. However, by establishing a directive ahead of time, you can legally authorize family members and/or friends to make decisions on your behalf so that a court does not need to get involved. You can also document your wishes for your care so that the person or people you authorize to make decisions would know ahead of time what care you desire. This ensures your wishes are known and done if you became incapacitated. Examples of incapacitation include comas or late-stage dementia.
Health care directives can take many forms. Specific examples include living wills and medical powers of attorney. According to the Health Care Transparency initiative, health care directives are written or oral statements. Their purpose is to express medical decisions ahead of time, and these decisions may involve the acceptance, refusal, or withholding of various treatments. A medical power of attorney is slightly different, as it designates someone else to make these decisions on behalf of the patient.
What Is a Living Will in Florida?
A living will is a type of advanced directive in Florida. Although it might sound similar to a Last Will and Testament, it is different because it takes effect while the patient is still alive. Through a living will, the patient makes various medical decisions ahead of time. Often, these decisions involve ideological or religious preferences. For example, some individuals cannot accept blood transfusions due to their faiths, while others may be averse to treatments involving stem cells for religious reasons.
Other decisions involve unique family needs and personal preferences. For example, a patient might decide that if they ever fall into a coma, they would like to be removed from life support within two weeks. Others may wish to remain in a vegetative state in the hope of a full recovery. Often, patients create living wills to protect their relatives from difficult decisions. A spouse or adult child may struggle psychologically after telling doctors to remove their loved one from life support. Alternatively, they may feel regret for not making this decision and allowing their loved one to remain in a vegetative state.
Are Health Care Directives Only for Elderly People?
Health care directives can help patients of all ages protect their medical autonomy. Although elderly people may be more vulnerable to certain types of incapacitation (including dementia), people of all ages could be incapacitated in the near future. Car accidents and falls are relatively common, and a traumatic brain injury can easily trigger a coma. Many patients decide to create health care directives at an early age, and the process is relatively straightforward. The necessary forms are publicly available, and patients may work with an estate planning law firm like Roulet Law Firm, P.A. to minimize legal mistakes.
What About Medical Powers of Attorney?
Another example of an advanced directive is a medical power of attorney. This estate planning tool allows patients to designate an “agent” to make decisions on their behalf if they ever become incapacitated. This might be a spouse, an adult child, a sibling, or anyone else that seems appropriate. According to Florida law, a patient may elect a health care surrogate even if they are not incapacitated. However, this decision-making authority usually passes to the surrogate after the patient has become incapacitated.
Medical powers of attorney are useful because a living will can only describe so many decisions. All kinds of diseases and injuries may require situational decisions, and a patient may not have predicted these choices in their living will. A health care surrogate can act in the best interests of the patient, whatever the future might bring.
What About Anatomical Donations?
Residents may also choose to donate part or all of their bodies after passing away. The obvious example is the donation of organs, and some may appreciate the opportunity to save lives even after passing away. Others prefer to donate their bodies to scientific research instead. A “uniform donor form” helps patients make their preferences known in this regard. If a patient does not expressly choose to make an anatomical donation, their body will go through the normal funeral process.
Learn More About Living Wills and Health Care Directives With Roulet Law Firm, P.A.
Although living wills and health care directives are relatively simple estate planning tools, they may only be effective when personalized to meet the needs of each unique patient. As a result, online research may not provide the same level of targeted guidance as an experienced estate planning attorney in Minnesota or Florida. During a consultation with an estate planning lawyer, patients may be able to discuss their specific health care concerns and priorities. Patients might also discuss various financial concerns and limitations during this initial meeting. Based on this information, an estate planning lawyer may be able to guide each patient through the most appropriate estate planning strategies. To further discuss how estate planning can ensure medical autonomy, consider contacting Roulet Law Firm, P.A. Florida residents may dial (941) 909-4644, while residents of Minnesota can call (763) 420-5087. Or you can fill out the contact form on this page and a member of our team will contact you to schedule your consultation.
Or if you are not yet ready to schedule a consultation, but would like to discover more, here are some additional resoruces for you:
