What Can You Do If You Don’t Want To Be Kept Alive on a Machine?

Hartford elder law attorneys help seniors to address issues that are most important to them as they plan for their future. While you may want to focus on making plans for a happy and secure retirement and considering how to achieve other positive goals, it is also essential that you plan ahead in case disaster strikes. If something happens to you and you get seriously hurt or badly injured, you and your family will be in a much better situation if you have made plans for what should happen when you become incapacitated. 

For many people, one of their greatest fears is that they will become incapacitated, have no quality of life left, and be kept alive by machines. If you do not want this to happen to you, you should work with Hartford elder law attorneys at Nirenstein, Horowitz & Associates to find out about your options for protecting yourself from being kept alive when you wouldn’t want to be.

Taking action to express your preferences on the sensitive life-and-death issue of when to use extraordinary measures to stay alive is also important to spare your family a potentially painful decision about whether to pull the plug.

What Can You Do If You Don’t Want Extraordinary Measures to Keep You Alive?

If you do not want extraordinary measures to keep you alive, you need to make this clear by making an incapacity plan using the right legal tools. In particular, you will need to use advanced directives for healthcare to express your preferences.

There are many different tools that give you the ability to express your wishes on medical care that will be provided to you if you are unable to communicate your wishes. You can use a living will to specify specific kinds of care you will and won’t receive based on the severity of your condition. For example, you can express preferences specifically on whether you want to kept alive on a machine that breathes for you and whether you want a feeding tube to be used to administer nutrition.

You can also create a DNR, or Do Not Resuscitate, which allows you to decline virtually all emergency measures that care providers would use to save your life, and you can name a healthcare proxy who makes decisions if your advanced plans don’t address a particular situation. A healthcare proxy should be someone who you trust who you are confident will act upon what you have expressed about quantity versus quality of life and other preferences you have expressed about your care in an emergency.

The healthcare proxy has a fiduciary duty to act in your best interests, but you must be aware you could be putting this person in a difficult position of deciding whether to administer care or withhold it and potentially make the choice that leads to you passing away. One big reason why it is advisable to make advanced plans for care is so you don’t force loved ones to carry the guilt of making these kinds of choices.

How can Hartford Elder Law Attorneys Help You?

Hartford elder law attorneys can help you to express your preferences as clearly as possible before you become ill or incapacitated so there is little to no question about what you would have wanted for your care. Our legal team can also assist you in making sure that the legal tools you create to express your preferences on care are legally valid and will be respected by care providers, your family and the courts if questions arise.

Getting Help from Hartford Elder Law Attorneys

Hartford elder law attorneys can provide invaluable assistance with making an incapacity plan that includes advanced healthcare directives so you can express your wishes on medical care. Our legal team can also assist you in taking steps to address other end-of-life issues that can arise so you can maintain your autonomy as long as possible, make your wishes known about quality of life when considering medical interventions, and protect your legacy.

To find out more about legal tools you can use to control your future, and to get help ensuring that you have the right plans in place, join us for a free seminar. You can also give us a call at 860-548-1000 or contact us online to talk with our legal team about making plans personalized to you. Give us a call now to find out more.