What is Advance Health Directive Drafting?
An advance health directive is a legal document that enables you to specify your medical treatment preferences before something happens, ensuring that if you are unable to communicate your wishes, your loved ones can refer to the document to know what medical decisions you’d want. It usually contains a living will and healthcare power of attorney.
If you need to draft an advance health directive, read the rest of this article. We’ll explore key terms it should include, what you should consider during the drafting process, and how a qualified lawyer can help you with it.
What are Key Terms to Include in an Advance Health Directive?
An advance health directive usually contains the following information and key terms:
- Incapacity. This term means that you are unable to understand your treatments, risks, or other things related to your health condition.
- Life-sustaining treatment. These are medical treatments that will artificially prolong your life, such as mechanical ventilation.
- Withholding treatment. This states your decision to reject a life-sustaining treatment or intervention.
- Palliative care. This section includes instructions for managing pain if your health condition can’t be cured.
- Designated representative. If you aren’t able to make health decisions, this person will be authorized to make them on your behalf.
- Authority. The designated representative will have certain authority, which must be outlined.
- Quality of life. It’s common for advance health directives to include information about acceptable or unacceptable quality of life priorities.
What are Tips for Drafting an Advance Health Directive?
When drafting your advance health directive, you should consider state laws and other important information to protect your interests.
Refer to State Laws
Advance health directives must align with specific laws, which vary from one state to the other, such as regarding document execution requirements. This is why it’s crucial to be informed about what’s legally required. If you’re unsure of this, you should consult with a lawyer who can help you.
Specify Your Treatment Preferences
Avoid being vague when stating what you want regarding healthcare treatment. Consider life-sustaining treatment, ventilation, and artificial nutrition and hydration. Try to be as specific and comprehensive as possible so that you don’t leave anything uncertain.
Explain When Instructions Apply
It’s important to state when your specific preferences will apply, such as if you can’t make decisions anymore or if a specific medical circumstance has occurred.
Consider Your Personal Values
As the testator, you should take some time to think about your personal values and priorities. Consider what quality of life means to you and what’s most important for you. Think about how you view certain medical interventions, such as feeding tubes or ventilators, so that you align the document with your honest wishes.
Select the Right Designated Representative
Make sure you choose a person to act as your designated representative who is trustworthy and reliable. You want them to have a clear understanding of what your values and preferences are, so that they will act in your best interests.
How Does a Lawyer Draft an Advance Health Directive?
Hiring a lawyer to draft your advance health directive is advisable, especially if you’re unsure of any of its elements. A lawyer will conduct the following activities during the drafting of your legal document:
- Discussing your healthcare and treatment values to ensure that the document is aligned with your preferences.
- Identifying the state laws that govern the document and complying with them.
- Explaining the distinction between documents such as your living will and healthcare power of attorney, and ensuring consistency across documents.
- Helping you to document your preferences so that your advance health directive is specific and detailed.
- Identifying conditions or circumstances in which specific treatment or healthcare initiatives should be applied.
- Drafting clear, straightforward clauses that avoid ambiguous language. This prevents misinterpretation and disputes.
- Clarifying the healthcare agent’s authority and responsibilities. They’ll also help you identify their limitations for clarity.
- Executing the legal document properly. This includes signatures, witnessing, and notarizing the document, depending on what legal formalities are required.
- Finalizing your legal document so that you feel confident about its terms and clauses.
- Reviewing your advance health directive, if you’ve already drafted it.
Where to Find a Lawyer for Advance Health Directive Drafting
If you’d like to hire a lawyer to draft your advance health directive, you don’t have to take lots of time to find one or call traditional law firms in your area. By using an online legal platform such as ContractsCounsel, you can connect with reputable, experienced lawyers from the comfort of your home.
ContractsCounsel is one of the largest online legal marketplaces that gives clients access to a curated network of lawyers. All lawyers have been vetted on the platform.
If you want to ask a lawyer on the platform to draft your advance health directive, here are the steps to follow:
- Go to the ContractsCounsel marketplace.
- Select ‘One-time project’ and ‘Create or update contract.’ If you need a lawyer to review your agreement, you’ll select ‘Contract review’ instead.
- Post your project, which is free to do.
- Include information about what you need so you can connect with the most suitable lawyers.
- Wait for bids. Lawyers directly on the platform will send you multiple bids to work on your project.
- Review the platform’s lawyer data. This includes the lawyers' location, credentials, years of experience, and client ratings for previously completed projects on the platform.
- Select a lawyer who meets your requirements and hire them to draft your advance health directive for a flat fee.