There are two ways to address making future medical decisions when doing estate planning. First, you can use an advance directive known as a living will. Doing this allows you to leave instructions, such as telling your future medical team that you don’t want to be resuscitated or you don’t want to be kept on life support.
The second option is to use a medical power of attorney. Instead of making decisions in advance, you simply pick an agent. If you become incapacitated, then this agent takes over and is in charge of making decisions on your behalf. They can decide what type of medical care you should receive and work with your doctor.
A power of attorney provides more flexibility
Both documents can be helpful, but the main benefit of a power of attorney is that it’s a bit more flexible. Your agent can talk to your doctors, discuss all of their options and potentially consider treatment options that you didn’t even know existed when you wrote the documentation. Your agent is supposed to act with your best interests in mind, but they’re still making decisions based on up-to-date information.
Conversely, if you write a living will, the doctors have to abide by the decisions that you’ve made. Even if they think you’ll make a full recovery after resuscitation, for example, if you have left them a do-not-resuscitate order, they have to abide by it. With a living will, you must be sure that all of the decisions you make are truly what you would want in all potential future circumstances.
No matter which documentation you decide to use, carefully consider the steps you’ll need to implement it during the estate planning process.