Beyond Medical Care: Personal Benefits of Advance Directives

Advance directives, including health care powers of attorney and living wills, provide essential legal protection for your medical wishes. However, their benefits extend far beyond medical care decisions. These documents offer opportunities for personal reflection, prevent family conflict, and provide peace of mind knowing your values will be respected even if you cannot communicate them yourself.

Key Takeaways About Advance Directives

Advance directives, including health care powers of attorney and living wills, are crucial for outlining your medical wishes and appointing a surrogate decision-maker.
Creating these documents involves personal reflection on quality of life, end-of-life preferences, and whom you trust most to make decisions on your behalf.
Sharing and discussing your advance directives with loved ones can prevent conflict and ensure your wishes are respected while expressing your autonomy.
Consulting an estate planning attorney is recommended to ensure that your documents are legally sound and aligned with your personal values and beliefs.

Understanding Advance Directives: More Than Legal Documents

As National Healthcare Decisions Day falls this week, it's an ideal time to consider creating or reviewing advance directives. These documents serve as more than essential legal tools—they help you shape the life you want to lead as you age. The planning and reflection involved in creating advance directives can provide a sense of autonomy and peace as you navigate long-term care, manage chronic conditions, and coordinate your care with loved ones.

Powers of Attorney and Living Wills Explained

Advance directives typically include two primary documents: durable powers of attorney and living wills. A health care power of attorney allows you to appoint a surrogate decision-maker to oversee your care if you become unable to make your own decisions. This document directs your chosen agent to act on your behalf and outlines the kind of actions you would like them to take.

While appointing a surrogate decision-maker is central to a power of attorney, the document can also detail your wishes for medical interventions and burial or cremation preferences. You may include details specific to your unique situation, making it a highly personalized document.

A living will, on the other hand, states your preferences for medical treatment and life-sustaining interventions. Typically, living wills express a general preference regarding medical interventions. However, a more personalized living will could convey your unique perspective on specific medical treatments. It's important to note that a living will is distinct from a last will and testament, which addresses property distribution after death.

The Personal Value of Creating Advance Directives

Creating and updating advance directives goes beyond legal and medical care planning—it offers a valuable opportunity for personal reflection. This reflection often involves addressing profound questions about your values and preferences:

What kind of life do you want to live as you age?
Do you value quality or quantity of life?
Whom do you want to step in and organize your care if you're unable to take care of yourself?
What do you want this person to know about your wishes?
What are your thoughts on organ donation?
Do you want to be buried or cremated?

Drafting and regularly reviewing power of attorney and living will documents provides a structured opportunity to clarify your goals and values, often leading to greater self-awareness and peace of mind.

Strengthening Family Relationships Through Advance Planning

These documents can help you communicate your wishes clearly to family members. Having conversations about your advance directives can initiate discussions about challenging subjects, such as what would happen if your health declined. Understanding your wishes can guide your loved ones in making decisions on your behalf, preventing stress, confusion, and family conflict.

In this sense, creating an advance directive can be considered an act of compassion—you take time now to clarify your wishes so that your family members don't face heart-wrenching decisions later without guidance.

Consider an older adult with grown children, for example. Appointing one child as health care agent and clearly stating one's wishes could prevent conflict between siblings. The power of attorney preempts arguments about what the parent wants, as everyone knows the health care agent will make final decisions based on the documented information.

Fostering Personal Autonomy Through Advance Planning

Making advance directives that reflect your values also fosters autonomy. You can have confidence that your loved ones know what to do if you need their help, helping you feel in control of your life and optimistic about the future. Consider it a profound opportunity to take control of your narrative, even in circumstances where you might not be able to speak for yourself.

How to Maximize the Benefits of Your Advance Directives

While it's possible to quickly complete a standard power of attorney form, execute the document, and consider it finished, you can take additional steps to get more benefits from advance directives:

1. Take Time for Reflection

Consider your values before finalizing your documents. Journaling, talking with a friend or family member, or researching topics—such as what is involved in common life-sustaining treatments—can help you solidify your opinions and ensure your documents truly reflect your wishes.

2. Choose Your Agent Carefully

Speak to several loved ones, gauge their willingness to act on your behalf, and assess whether your views align. This can help you find the right person to appoint as your agent. Even when views differ, it's important to choose someone you believe will respect your wishes rather than imposing their own.

3. Share and Discuss Your Directives

After creating a power of attorney or living will, share copies with your loved ones. This ensures they know your intentions for long-term or end-of-life care and know how to help you if needed. These conversations may encourage your loved ones to similarly reflect on deep questions and may even inspire them to create or update their own advance directives, benefiting the whole family.

The Importance of Professional Guidance

Establishing an advance directive serves as a powerful expression of your personal values and autonomy. In addition to medical care decisions, it allows you to communicate your wishes in a way that transcends traditional legal or financial concerns. It helps ensure that your legacy includes your most deeply held beliefs about how you want to live—especially in moments when you may be unable to express them.

A qualified estate planning attorney can help you draft advance directives that accurately reflect your values. Professionals specializing in this field can assist you in creating a living will and health care proxy, ensuring that your medical wishes are honored, while also drafting other essential legal documents, including a will or trust, providing clarity and legal protection for you and your loved ones.

An estate planning attorney offers expertise in many other ways as well. For example, if you have minor children, estate planning includes appointing a guardian in the event that you and the other legal parent are no longer able to care for your children. Partnering closely with an estate planner on these types of documents is always a good idea to ensure they're legally sound and truly reflect your wishes.

Conclusion: Advance Directives as Tools for Self-Determination

Advance directives represent more than just legal protection for medical decisions—they're powerful tools for self-determination that allow you to maintain control over your life even when you cannot speak for yourself. By taking the time to create thoughtful, comprehensive advance directives, you not only protect your medical wishes but also provide yourself with peace of mind and your loved ones with clear guidance during difficult times.

As National Healthcare Decisions Day reminds us, there's no better time than now to create or review your advance directives, ensuring they accurately reflect your current values and wishes for the future.