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Critical Ways to Maintain Your Advance Health Care Directive

The pandemic has disrupted many aspects of our daily lives. The pandemic has also resulted in significant changes for estate planning, which includes how people think about advance health care directives. Often, these directives specify the type of medical care that patients would like to or do not want to receive in case they are not able to communicate.  These documents also serve the invaluable role of expressing the specific approach that patients would like towards life-saving measures. Many times, advance directives are used in combination with living wills, which appoint a health care proxy to make decisions in case a person is incapacitated.  The Unpredictable Nature of the Coronavirus Tragically, during the coronavirus pandemic, many people are admitted to the hospital without loved ones present due to concerns about how the disease will spread. The most serious COVID-19 patients are as a result at a significant risk of having their intent overlooked by medical professionals.  Additionally, the trajectory of the virus varies greatly, and often there is not a large window in which to treat a person. By having an advanced healthcare directive in place, however, a person can greatly increase the likelihood that their intent is known.  Assumptions [...]

2020-10-05T17:38:56+00:00Tags: , , |

Appreciating the Importance of Medical Directives During the Pandemic

As the coronavirus pandemic continues throughout Oklahoma, many people are faced with the question of whether their estate plan is sufficient. While many people think that a will is sufficient, it is often important to create other critical estate planning documents. During these times, it is helpful to consider whether a “living will” or “medical directive” is a suitable estate planning tool to create in case you ever pass away or become incapacitated.    The Difference Between Living Wills and Medical Directives   Living wills serve the purpose of reflecting what or whether or a person would like to receive life-sustaining procedures. Living wills are classified as only one type of advance directive, which directly focuses on measures required to sustain a person's life. Some of the other types of advance directives include a wide range of alternative planning options.   Living wills fall into the category of medical directive, which refers to documents establishing a person’s wishes for certain medical procedures as well as end-of-life care. While the term “advance directives” is often used in relation to these documents, this often refers to power of attorney documents that assign another individual’s ability to make financial or medical decisions.    [...]

2020-08-19T03:00:00+00:00Tags: , , |