Autograph Advance Directive Made Easy

Autograph advance directive

[Music] hi John Strohmeyer from Strohmeyer law and today we're discussing the differences between an advance directive and medical power of attorney and a do not resuscitate now these are all documents that we use as part of the normal estate planning process but they are different and they while they overlap they are not the same thing first one we want to talk about is that do not resuscitate or DNR order this is used by clients who do not want to be resuscitated if they're outside of the hospital if they're in the hospital there's a different in a hospital form that they may have if you're outside of the hospital the DNR order needs to have a specific form and among other things needs to have either two witnesses and a notary or two witnesses or a notary and it must have a physician's signature authorizing that do not resuscitate order if that's in place and something happens to you and it looks like your death is imminent then that DNR order will stop medical personnel from reviving you the second document we want to talk about is the medical power of attorney using this document you the principle of the document can appoint an agent to make medical decisions for you if you're not capable of making those decisions for yourself so imagine you go to the hospital because you're riding your bike and you got hit by a car well if you've only broken your leg and otherwise you're fine and fully aware then your agent under that medical power can't make any decisions for you but if that bike wreck was a little worse and you're in a coma then the medically the medical agent will be able to start making decisions for you now they can't make any decisions they can't authorize electroshock treatment or do anything else that you wouldn't otherwise be able to authorize for yourself if you were alive Hey or if you were fully competent what they can do is make any decision you would otherwise be capable of making now we can put some constraints on this you're allowed to add in to that medical power of attorney certain restrictions or wishes you want about your treatment what we're also going to consider having is a third document and that's the living will or the advance directive to physicians this document operates as a set of handcuffs on your agent under your medical power of attorney now the Texas Legislature has given us a form for this and we follow it because doctors know what to look for and how it operates we start getting too far afield we may get into situations that can create some like legal or medical ethics issues for the doctors so generally we're left with the two situations from the legislature situation number one if you have a terminal condition and this is a situation in which you're not capable of making your own decisions and the doctors expect you to die within six months if that's gonna happen then you have two options from from the form one have all the everything turned off the other option is going to be leave everything off and let you guys comfortably and peaceably as possible now you know again we're we're just talking about one situation where the doctors expect you to die within six months the other situation is more like that Terry Schiavo situation from a few years ago in this case the doctors expect that you are going to die you're incapacitated but they don't know when your death is going to happen they certainly don't think it's gonna be within this next six months so in that case you've got the same options turn everything off or leave everything on now your medical agent if you've signed a an advanced directive or a living will your medical agent has to follow your instructions in that document they have to combine both them both the medical power of attorney and the advance directive to make sure that they're carrying out your wishes it's not just the agents wishes that have to be carried it out it's what what the principal want so the medical power and the advance directive operate together you're almost always gonna have a medical agent and you may have an advance directive that operates as a set of handcuffs on the actions that the medical agent can take you could also have a DNR or that do not resuscitate order the do not resuscitate order really isn't going to control what your medical agent does your what it will do is stop your medical or medical personnel from trying to resuscitate you while you're outside at the hospital [Music]