Your Health
Along with your money, your health changes on a daily basis – and having a plan in place will put you in a worry-free position should a health emergency arise.
Health Care Decisions
At Hancock Legal we work with our clients to develop a plan for health care decisions. We want you to have a choice in the medical decisions being made about you even when your incapacity prevents you from speaking. Putting your preferences in writing, and designating your agent for your health care and end-of-life decisions is a critical part of a Life Change Management (LCM) Plan.
Planning for Health Care
There are a variety of ways to plan for your health care decisions. If you are employed, you probably have health insurance, but business owners, people with families, people with substantial assets or people with existing or anticipated health care needs should be aware of options for health care that can be planned for in advance. Long-term health care insurance, retirement planning and other financial tools should play a part in your LCM plan, and we want to work with you to identify the best way to take care of your health.
Plan Documents
A power of attorney for health care purposes will authorize the person you designate to make health care decisions on your behalf. This person will be authorized to speak with your doctors and discuss treatment options. This person will also be authorized to accept or reject proposed medical treatments. Because of the significance of these decisions, the selection of a health care agent must be made carefully and with great thought. At Hancock Legal, we know which questions to ask and which issues need to be discussed when drafting this important document.
The advanced medical directive (sometimes called a “living will”) is a document that states your intentions regarding life-prolonging treatment in the event that you are incapacitated. The use of an advanced medical directive can avoid the painful situation in which loved ones must decide whether to continue life-prolonging treatments in the event that you are in a permanent vegetative state. Furthermore, advanced medical directives allow clients to clearly state whether they want to be an organ donor.
