Although we don’t like to think about it much, the simple fact is that we could become incapacitated or unable to communicate at any time. A car accident, a heart attack, becoming the victim of a crime or any other number of life events could lead to a situation where you become unconscious, fall into a coma, or become permanently disabled. It doesn’t always happen to the other person. Sooner or later, it could happen to you.
Many people want control over their lives when something like this happens. But unfortunately, without any form of preplanning, family members and doctors are often left making decisions without the benefit of your input.
To keep this from happening, millions of people have completed and filed advanced healthcare directives. These are recognized in every state and included in medical records, as well as being fully supported by the medical and legal profession.
An advanced healthcare directive allows you to appoint someone to make decisions about your medical care when you are not able to do so. Ideally, you will have had a conversation with your agent so that many of the difficult decisions about how you should be cared for have already been decided before a distressing situation takes place.
Making these choices before they need to be implemented is a gift to your loved ones, as it removes the stress of guessing what you want while also removing potential conflicts that could arise among family members.
Most important, with an advanced healthcare directive in place, it saves you from unnecessary pain and unwanted procedures, allowing you to control your own destiny at a critical point in your life.