Bill, a strong, active, and energetic man in his 60s, was on his way home from a family function. Suddenly, his car was hit at its door by another car that had run a red light. Bill immediately lost consciousness. He was taken by ambulance to the hospital. Lucy, his eldest daughter, was notified by the Police. Bill was in critical condition.
Fortunately, three years ago, just after losing his wife, Bill had planned for a moment like this in advance. He had contacted the family’s attorney and asked him to prepare his Advance Health Care Directives (AHCDs). In that document, Bill had named Lucy, his closest relative, as his health care surrogate.
Commonly known as a “Living Will,” the AHCD is a legal document that sets forth your medical preferences in the event you become incapacitated or unable to speak due to illness, accident, or medical condition. Do you want your life to be prolonged by artificial means? If so, to what extent and by what means? Do you want to receive blood transfusions, respiratory assistance or cardiac resuscitation?
And, if you can’t speak, how will you communicate your preferences to your medical providers?
This is when an AHCD comes into play. In an AHCD, you not only express your wishes for health care, but also supplement someone with a power of attorney to make care and treatment decisions on your behalf. It will give instructions for everything that concerns you, regarding your health care. This document will speak for you when you are unable to communicate these decisions yourself. Your medical surrogate will act as your agent. This person will express your decisions.
This is how an advance health care directive works. Before your attorney drafts your AHCD, you should contact the person you have in mind to act as your medical surrogate. You must tell this person that you want him to act as his agent and represent him in the event of a medical emergency or a situation that may result in his inability to communicate. Talk to this person about his or her preferences regarding your health care decisions. This would include the special treatment he wants at the end of life, his desire for surgical procedures and organ donation, for example.
You must get this person’s agreement before making the appointment in writing. You should do the same with a second person. This individual will be his alternate surrogate, that is, he will represent him before his medical providers, in case the former is not available to take over. He will then ask your lawyer to prepare the form, according to his instructions. However, you can prepare the form yourself by obtaining a model online from an expert in the field. You must give copies of your AHCD to each person named on it as your agent, your primary care physician, and keep your original in a safe place.
When choosing who to designate as your medical surrogate, you should consider that person’s proximity to your area of ​​residence, your neighborhood hospitals, and your medical providers’ facilities. You need to consider that person’s relationship to you and how much you can trust him or her to take on this responsibility. At the end of the day, this will be the person who will consent or reject any medical care, diagnosis and treatment service that is offered to attend to any physical or mental condition that may be suffering.
When contacted by police, Lucy retrieved a copy of her father’s AHCD from her home safe and went straight to the emergency room. She identified who she was and handed the document over to the station nurses. The nurses made copies of the document, noted Lucy’s contact information, and filed Bill’s AHCD in his medical record. Every time a nurse or doctor opened Bill’s file, his AHCD was there.
Bill had six broken ribs and some lacerations to his face and abdomen. He regained consciousness after the effect of the sedatives. Lucy had fallen asleep next to him. He had been able to rest a bit, knowing that everything would work out exactly the way his father had wanted.
Consider your options early on and ensure the quality of life that’s important to you later. This helps you prevent your loved ones from having to make critical decisions under stress or in times of emotional turmoil.