Orange County Estate Planning Attorney Holly Nabiey Explains what is an Advanced Medical Directive.
What is An Advanced Medical Directive and Why Do I Need One?
A Document that allows to name someone else to make medical and healthcare decisions for you in the event you are unable to make them for yourself. The Advanced Directive also allows to you to state what your end of life and after life preferences are, such as those concerning life sustaining treatment commonly referred to as life support. The advanced medical directive should always be coupled with what it known as a HIPPA Authorization or HIPPA Waiver, which is a release of your medical information. The HIPPA law stands for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Under this law, Doctors, Hospitals, and other medical professionals are prohibited from giving out your medical information to your loved ones even in an emergency.
That is why it is imperative that you make some kind of advanced medical directive coupled with an HIPPA authorization so that if you ever are in a time of need or an emergency your loved one can make decisions for you according to your desires ad have access to your medical data. If you have any questions please call our office. Contact us today and set up an appointment.
We offer a many different resources and pamphlets on the subject of creating, updating and implementing estate plans. We also offer a regularly scheduled seminar in our office to help people determine what the best options are for them in their estate planning needs. We hope you sign up for one of our seminars to help you find your best options. We regularly conduct free seminars designed to teach about the benefits of creating an estate plan.