Try: When families begin the legal planning process there are a number of strategies and legal documents they need to discuss depending on the family situation and the applicable state laws some or all of the following terms and documents may be introduced by the lawyer hired to assist in this process broadly speaking these documents can be divided into two groups documents that communicate the health care wishes of someone who may no longer be able to make health care decisions documents that communicate the financial management and estate plan wishes of someone who may no longer be able to make financial decisions advance directives for health care advance directives for health care are documents that communicate the health care wishes of a Care recipient (cr) these decisions are then carried out after the person no longer can make decisions in most cases these documents must be prepared while the person is legally able to execute them a living will records a person person’s wishes for medical treatment near the end of life it may do the following specify the extent of life-sustaining treatment and major health care the person wants help a terminal patient die with dignity protect the physician or hospital from liability for carrying out the patient patient’s instructions specify how much discretion the person gives to his or her proxy discussed below about end-of-life decisions a durable power of attorney for health care designates a person sometimes called an agent or proxy to make health care decisions when the cr no longer can do so depending on state laws and the person person’s preferences the proxy might be authorized to refuse or agree to treatments change health care providers remove the patient from an institution decide about making organ donations decide about starting or continuing life support if not specified in a living will decide whether the person with alzheimer’s will end life at home or in a facility have access to medical records a do not resuscitate dnr order instructs health care professionals not to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation if a person’s heart stops or if he or she stops breathing a dnr order is signed by a doctor and put in a person’s medical chart information references "caring for a person with alzheimer’s disease your easy-to-use guide from the national institute on aging" by national institute on aging 2011 available at www nia nih gov
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Categories: Sage, Topic, Financial, Legal, Medical Physical
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Keywords: Legal planning financial planning final wishes health care directives wills estate planning attorney lawyer power of attorney living will
*This information is listed as a Fact Sheet and is not explicitly medically licensed