Having a medical directive is something you should think about obtaining, even if you’re still young and able to care for yourself. The last thing you want is to wait until it’s too late and there’s no directive in place. Medical directives can benefit you by:
1. Keeping You In Control Even When You Cannot Speak For Yourself
A medical directive is a legal document that details specifically what you want to happen with your person and your property in the event that you become incapacitated or pass away and are no longer able to make decisions yourself.
Medical directives are written when you are lucid and have the legal mental capacity to create and sign such a document, so even if you are incapacitated, your wishes will still be carried out when you have a medical directive in place.
2. Preventing You From Having to Endure Unnecessary Procedures or Pain Against Your Will
Because a medical directive specifies in advance what you want to happen in different hypothetical situations, you will not have to endure a procedure or be in pain if that’s not what you have explicitly stated you want. Without a medical directive on file, your next of kin or even the state could be in charge of your medical care, subjecting you to procedures or life-prolonging care that you don’t want.
3. Minimizing Stress During an Emotional Time
When you pass away or if you become incapacitated, this is a highly stressful and emotional time for your loved ones. Big decisions will need to be made quickly, and your loved ones may not be in a sound emotional state to make them. Finding out that a loved one has a medical directive can be an immense relief for people who feel incapable of making such critical decisions with the life of a family member in the balance.
4. Affording Your Loved Ones Peace of Mind
If your loved ones know of your medical directive in advance, this can give them peace of mind knowing ahead of time that those critical decisions were already made by you. When you’re grieving and in distress, being able to follow a clearly detailed plan that you know your loved one wants can be comforting and may afford your family peace of mind even well before you need a medical directive.
5. Reducing the Potential for Conflict Among Loved Ones
If you fail to specify your wishes and pass away or become incapacitated, and your loved ones have to make decisions for you using guesswork as to what you would have wanted, this can lead to high-stress conflict.
Many family fights are started after a person dies or is no longer able to care for themselves and remaining family members have to figure out what to do next with no guide or ability to ask you what your preferences are. If you have a medical directive in place, your wishes are clearly stated and there’s simply no room for conflict.
Get Help Creating a Medical Directive: Call Beasley & Ferber Today
Interested in learning more about how a medical directive can benefit you or want to move forward with formally creating one? Beasley & Ferber can help. Call us now for an appointment at 1-800-370-5010.