One important part of estate planning is to consider your medical needs in the future. The more planning you can do in advance, the better. This gives your family direction, ensures that your wishes are honored, and allows you to make a plan before there are any questions about something like testamentary capacity.
The first way to do this is by using a living will. This often focuses on end-of-life care, allowing a person to list their decisions in advance. There may be religious or social concerns. They may know that they do not want to be resuscitated or kept on life support. With a living will, you can list these types of decisions in advance so that your family and medical team simply need to consult the documentation.
A power of attorney
A more dynamic option, however, is using a medical power of attorney. This document does not require you to actually make your medical choices in advance, but simply to pick an agent. You are authorizing them to act on your behalf if necessary.
Typically, a medical power of attorney will be based around incapacitation. If you are declared incapacitated, such as if you have a serious medical event and are in the hospital in a medically-induced coma, then your agent is allowed to take over and make decisions about the type of care you would want to receive or what treatment plan you would authorize. This way, they can truly gather all applicable evidence, look at the specifics of your unique situation, talk to the doctors who are involved, and make decisions with your best interests in mind.
Setting up your estate plan
Either of these documents can be beneficial. The key is to understand what legal options you have when drafting your estate plan.
