Estate planning is not simply recording how your assets will be distributed. It also includes your healthcare. The time may come when you can't speak for yourself. Who will make healthcare decisions for you? Would that person make decisions that closely align with your beliefs? By creating two documents, a Medical Power of Attorney and an Advance Directive, you can be assured that your wishes will be legally recorded and carried out.
At first glance, having both documents may seem unnecessary. The Medical Power of Attorney is a legal document that allows you to select someone you trust to make decisions for you regarding healthcare should you become unable to do so. That includes making the decision to remove life support. It is different from your Durable Power of Attorney because the Durable Power of Attorney gives your agent the authority to make financial decisions for you, while the Medical Power of Attorney gives your agent the authority to make medical decisions.
The Medical Power of Attorney is enacted when the doctor puts in writing that you can no longer make medical decisions for yourself. Your agent must then be consulted in all treatments and services, including treatment facilities and daily treatments. Doctors must talk to you before they make any decisions concerning your treatment, and your agent has the authority to see all of your medical records. If a situation concerning your care arises that was not specifically addressed in your medical power of attorney, your agent has the authority to make a decision in good faith based on their knowledge of your values and beliefs. This is why it is so important to choose someone you know well and trust and tell them your wishes.
The Advance Directive, on the other hand, states your wishes regarding life sustaining treatment should you be diagnosed with a terminal or an irrevocable condition and cannot communicate. It will not go into effect until two doctors certify that these conditions have been met. In this document, you name someone you trust to act as your agent. That person may be the agent named in the Medical Power of Attorney, or it may be someone completely different. As your agent, they are legally bound to follow your wishes as stated in the Advance Directive to the letter. They do not have the authority to change anything based on their own values or beliefs.
There are different types of Advance Directives in Texas, each one addressing different purposes, such as:
- Medical Power of Attorney – As stated above, the Medical Power of Attorney allows you to select someone you trust to make medical decisions for you when you are not able to do so. As the agent named in the Advance Directive, they may be called upon to make decisions concerning life sustaining treatment.
- Directives to Physician and Family or a Living Will – A Living Will specifies the types of care you want if you can't communicate due to illness or incapacity. This involves decisions concerning life sustaining treatments, ventilators, or feeding tubes in the event that you are terminally ill or in a persistent vegetative state.
- Out-of-Hospital Do-Not-Resuscitate (OOH DNR) – An Out-Of-Hospital Do-Not-Resuscitate order is a physician's order signed by the patient. It informs all medical personnel, such as emergency medical staff, to forgo all resuscitative attempts in the event of respiratory or cardiac arrest, including CPR, artificial ventilation and defibrillation
- Declaration for Mental Health Treatment – This document states your wishes concerning psychoactive medications, convulsive therapies, and emergency mental health treatment.
Attorney Nancy Eaton is knowledgeable in all Texas laws pertaining to estate planning and has years of experience in this field. She would be happy to discuss any questions or concerns you might have concerning Medical Power of Attorneys or Advance Directives. Call her office anytime and make an appointment.