Advance Care Directives
Declining health is often an unwanted characteristic of ageing. While you may have already appointed an attorney or guardian to make health decisions for you, this is often an onerous task.
Illness of a family member creates a difficult and stressful environment for many, and the duty of making serious decisions regarding a close family member or friend can easily become a burden.
Advance Care Directives are designed to alleviate those stresses by documenting your wishes for medical treatment (or lack thereof) in various possible scenarios.
Many people acknowledge the need to have a decision maker in those difficult times, but fail to appreciate the burden of that role.
Advance Care Directives provide certainty to the loved ones you may leave behind, as they give clarity on your wishes in certain circumstances, should they arrive. Advance Care Directives address serious medical dilemmas such as:
- Whether you wish to be resuscitated in certain circumstances;
- At what point you wish for life support to be turned off, if any; and
- How you wish to be treated if you become terminally ill or suffer a debilitating injury.
While there is no obligation for you to speak with a doctor or medical professional to prepare an Advance Care Directive, often they can assist in ensuring that the Advance Care Directive aligns with your wishes and, in turn, alleviates some pressure from any decision maker who may be appointed consciously by you, or by virtue of being your “next of kin”.
At Kydon Segal Lawyers we understand that planning for the future is a difficult task, and we are here to assist you with.