MEDICAL ISSUES: Legal Issues

Legal Issues

Everyone should have a will. Everyone should have a Healthcare Directive. Everyone should have a Durable Power of Attorney in place just in case. All parents should have written instructions on the care of their children if they are unable to care for them. Everyone. People don’t typically think about these issues until they reach a certain age or become ill and that is as good a time as any to set things up.

We encourage you to learn more about these important directives and then follow through with putting them in place for your peace of mind and your family’s future.

We recommend:

• Medical Directive
• Statute Durable Power of Attorney for Healthcare
• General Power of Attorney for the care and custody of a child

We found a number of websites that explain the forms and their uses, but we have not included any links. Most of these sites also allow you to complete the forms online, but they charge a fee which is largely hidden until you get to the end. We think this is a little deceptive and suggest you proceed with caution on a site where you cannot easily determine the cost per item ahead of time. In some cases, you might be able to get some of these forms from your doctor’s office. We recommend you begin there.

If you want to read more about any of these documents, you will find a number of sites in a simple web search.

Related Article on PHCentral: Living Wills: One Patient's Experience
by Sherry Okonski - Contributor