Douglas B. Price
What is an advance directive? Simply put, it is a legal document you create to give direction to your friends and family before you experience a medical problem or disability.
An advance directive is a wonderful insurance policy for you to be sure your desires will be followed even if you subsequently are incapacitated. You cannot wait to prepare an advance directive. You must prepare it while you are able. The legal term to describe this is you must be competent to make a valid advance directive.
Advance directives can be made in conjunction with a will or a trust, and a financial power of attorney, so you will have a complete estate planning package in the event of your disability or death. Your risk of being disabled or incapacitated is many times higher than your risk of death.
A living will is an example of an advance directive. It is a legal document directing what medical care you would want under circumstances whereby you were disabled or even unconscious. For example, do you want a feeding tube? Do you want comfort care? Do you want artificial respiration? By preparing a living will, you can give comfort to your loved ones, helping them and your doctors to choose the treatment path you want.
Other advance directives include financial powers of attorney, so the person or persons you designate can pay your bills with access to your accounts. Medical powers of attorney allow you to specify a person or persons to make medical decisions for you. When combined with a living will, it is a powerful tool to insure you receive the medical care you want, directed by the people who you want to be in control.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) laws of 1996, passed by Congress, help to protect our privacy. However, they have made it more difficult for your loved ones to obtain copies of your medical records. We can prepare a HIPAA Authorization to make it easier for your loved ones to obtain your records under HIPAA.
We have more than 30 years of experience in practicing law in Arizona. All of these advance directives can be prepared by our office with an advance directives package and, at no additional cost, we will post your medical advance directives on the secure Arizona system for Internet access by you or your doctors from anywhere in the world.
Contact our office by calling (480) 345-8100, or e-mail us at contact@azlegal.net.