Resolve to Ensure Your Care in the Event of the Unforeseen

Resolve to Ensure Your Care in the Event of the Unforeseen

While the new year is now well underway, it is not too late – it is never too late – to make a resolution to promote your well-being.

There are lots of worthy options on the Top 10 list of most popular New Year’s resolutions:

1. Lose weight
2. Eat healthier
3. Save more money
4. Spend more time with loved ones
5. Learn something new
6. Travel to new places
7. Be less stressed
8. Drink less
9. Quit smoking
10. Volunteer

But we’d like to make a recommendation that very few ever think of but absolutely everyone needs – and the sooner the better.

Resolve to complete an advance directive to ensure that you are cared for the way you want if you are no longer able to make medical decisions. Quit smoking. This is probably nobody’s favorite subject. But its importance cannot be overstated. And completing an advance directive is relatively simple and inexpensive – even free!

Helpful Info & Resources

What is an advance directive? A legal document that enables you to direct exactly how you will be cared for following an accident or sudden serious illness that renders you incapable of making medical decisions. This document can account for your specific religious and personal beliefs.

Is an advance directive required? No. In the absence of a directive, your next of kind will make health care decisions for you. But keep in mind: Without a direction, you’re asking a loved one to make a monumental decision without guidance from you under tremendous duress, given the circumstances of your condition.

How are advance directives created? Express in writing what kinds of medical treatments you do and do not want in the event of an accident or sudden serious illness that renders you incapable of medical decision-making. You also can identify who you want to make such decisions.

Is a lawyer is not required? No.

Does the directive need to be notarized? No. It must be signed by you and two witnesses. You can also make a valid advance directive by talking to your doctor in front of a witness.

Can advance directives be changed? Yes. Modifications can be made. The most recent finalized directive will preside.

These are the some of the basics. Fortunately, there are lots of resources available to inform and assist you. To learn more about how to create a document that fully serves you and your loved ones, please visit Gilchrist’s Advance Care Planning webpage here.

Here’s more good news: This is a resolution that’s easier to keep than laying off the potato chips in an effort to lose weight. And ideally, this document will never be needed.