Advance Medical Directive

You often hear in the news about someone who has been declared brain dead but is being kept alive artificially with various life support mechanisms. Family members and friends come forward to say that the person would not want that. The loved one would want to be allowed to die peacefully without machines attached. Other friends and family will come forward and say that you wanted every possible treatment to save your life.

In some cases, there are conflicting testimonials about what the person would want. Without a proper living will known as an Advance Medical Directive, a court will decide whether or not to turn off the machines. If you want to avoid placing your family and friends into the position of arguing about what you would want, you can do that by either preparing a power of attorney or an Advance Medical Directive (AMD) now while you are capable of letting your wishes be specifically known. In order for either document to be effective, you must be 18 or over and of sound legal mind.

Advance Medical Directive

Advance Medical Directives are sometimes referred to as living wills. You put in writing who you want to make the decisions about your medical care. You select the agent, not the Court. You tell the agent in the document how you want to be treated if you can’t make the decision for you. If your death is imminent, you can let your agent, your family, and your treating medical service provider know if you want life support or do not want life support. You have the absolute right want everything possible be done to maintain your life or you can order that nothing be done. The choices are yours and you can be completely specific about what they are. The document is legally binding and your wishes must be followed.

Pregnancy

Woman who are pregnant or may become pregnant need to make an important decision about their health and/or their baby’s health. You will need to decide if a doctor can only save you or your child, who should be saved? You also need to decide that if your child is viable, but your death is imminent, should you remain on life support until your child can live outside your body, or should your family remove you from life support. When we are planning the birth of our child, we don’t want to think about these issues. At the Mummert Law Firm, we can help you plan for this situation.

Attorney assistance

Attorney Timothy Mummert, can help you properly prepare Advance Medical Directive. You can then rest assured, knowing that when the crucial time comes, the law will honor your wishes and your family and friends will know what you wanted. At the Mummert Law Firm, we pride ourselves on putting our clients first.