An estate planning attorney can help you to take steps to avoid unwanted medical care. Avoiding care that you don’t want is very important because it is up to you to determine what you want your quality of life to be and when you want extraordinary measures used to prolong your life. Unfortunately, some of the most difficult decisions about your care may need to be made at a time when you are not in a position to communicate your preferences. Your family could be put into a difficult situation and you could end up with care you do not want if you have not taken action in advance. 
Nirenstein, Horowitz & Associates can help. Our legal team will work closely with you to determine what kinds of medical care you wish to decline and will help you to understand your options for expressing your care preferences in advance of the time when a medical emergency arises. This is something that people of all ages should do, as you never know when something could happen to you. Give us a call today to talk with an estate planning attorney at our firm to find out how we can help.
Your Options for Avoiding Unwanted Medical Care
One of the best ways to avoid unwanted medical care is to use advanced directives to specify the circumstances under which you want different kinds of care and the circumstances under which you do not want extraordinary measures use to prolong your life.
Using advanced directives, you can expressly decline certain types of healthcare services, such as the use of a feeding tube to provide you with artificial nutrition or the use of a machine to breathe for you when you are not able to breathe on your own. You can decline to have CPR performed or you can specify that you want palliative care only when a serious illness that you have progresses to its end stages. Whether you create a Do Not Resuscitate order or you use a living will to express your preferences on particular kinds of care, acting in advance to create advanced directives puts you in charge of your own medical decisions, even if those decisions need to be made at a time when you are not able to speak for yourself.
In addition to specifying what kinds of care you wish to decline, you should also consider naming a healthcare proxy. You can use a healthcare power of attorney to designate a chosen person who will have a fiduciary duty to act in your best interests and who will have the authority to make medical decisions when you cannot act on your own and you have not expressed your care preferences in advance.
By selecting a person who you trust and giving that person authority to accept or decline care on your behalf, you ensure someone who understands your values makes choices about your care. You can discuss your preferences with that person in advance so they have a clear idea of the circumstances under which you would want medical interventions and the situations in which declining care would likely be your preferences.
Taking these actions and making your healthcare plans in advance not only gives you the peace of mind of knowing that you won’t be subject to unwanted care or forced to live a life you don’t want. Making advanced plans also helps to spare your loved ones from the guilt and stress that could be associated with removing life support or withholding potentially life-saving care. It also ensures that your family won’t fight over what you would have preferred when it comes to your care, since your wishes will be clearly stated in advance.
Getting Help from An Estate Planning Attorney
An estate planning attorney at Nirenstein, Horowitz & Associates can offer you personalized help in understanding the types of situations that might need to be made in a medical emergency. We can assist you in learning about the legal tools that you can use to make these decisions in advance so you can spare your family difficult choices and ensure that you do not receive any care you would have wished to decline.
To find out more about the services our legal team offers you in planning ahead for medical emergencies, join us for a free seminar. You can also give us a call at 860-548-1000 or contact us online to if you are ready to put a plan in place for your future care. You never know when a tragedy could strike, so do not wait to reach out to our firm and find out what your options are.
Mr. Nirenstein is licensed to practice before the courts of the State of Connecticut and the United States District Court. He is a member of the Connecticut and Hartford County Bar Associations, and the Estate and Probate, Elder Law, Business Law and Real Estate Sections of the Connecticut Bar Association.
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