There are two main ways to use your estate plan to make future medical decisions. Although they may have the same general goal, they work in very different ways.
The first is a living will. With this document, you can make choices about medical care in the future. You can list these out so that, if you’re incapacitated, your medical team can read your decisions.
For example, perhaps you don’t want to be kept on life support. You could draft a living will saying that, if you suffer a stroke and are incapacitated in the hospital, doctors can provide assistance and treatment, but they should not keep you on life support. You could also use a living will to state that you don’t want to be resuscitated or to reject other types of treatments. You’re essentially just making decisions in advance.
How is a power of attorney different?
A power of attorney is much different, in that you don’t have to make any medical decisions at all. You don’t have to try to predict the future or guess about what type of care you would want under certain circumstances.
Instead, this document authorizes an agent to make medical decisions for you. Ordinarily, you’d be the only person with the legal authority to make these choices. But by selecting an agent in advance, your medical team knows who to talk to in order to find out what type of treatment you would want or what you would rather avoid. You and your agent can sit down in advance to discuss your wishes, and they can then make decisions as they are needed.
Either one of these documents can be a beneficial part of your estate plan, depending on your individual goals. Be sure you know what legal steps to take.