Directive To Physicians
Although sometimes referred to as a "Living Will,” in Texas, they are called a "Directive To Physicians”. They are completely distinct from a Will that relates to your property.
A "Directive To Physicians” is a legal document that communicates your wishes regarding medical treatment in situations where you are unable to make your wishes known due to illness or injury when you have a terminal or irreversible condition. They do not come into play if you are only temporarily unconscious due to a medical emergency and are expected to recover and not be in a terminal or irreversible condition, such as a heart attack that you are expected to recover from. A Directive does not mean that emergency or other medical care will not be provided to you. Many people have advance directives and are treated for things like stroke and heart attacks everyday.
This directive specifically addresses your preferences for life-sustaining treatment in such conditions.
Key Purposes of a Directive to Physicians:
Communicate End-of-Life Wishes: It lets your doctors and loved ones know whether you want to receive or withhold life-sustaining treatments, such as mechanical ventilation or feeding tubes, if you are terminally ill or in an irreversible condition.
Provide Peace of Mind: By clearly stating your medical treatment preferences, it provides peace of mind to you and your family, ensuring that your wishes are respected even when you cannot communicate them.
Avoid Unnecessary Treatments: It helps prevent unnecessary and unwanted medical interventions that may prolong suffering or delay the natural process of dying.
Legal Clarity: It provides legal clarity and guidance to healthcare providers, ensuring that they follow your specified wishes without fear of legal repercussions.
When Does It Take Effect?
The directive only takes effect when a physician certifies that you have a terminal or irreversible condition and are unable to communicate your treatment preferences.
Important Considerations:
Revocability: You can revoke or change your directive at any time, regardless of your mental state.
No Impact on Insurance: It does not affect your will, estate, or health insurance premiums.
Not a Substitute for a Medical Power of Attorney: While a directive to physicians specifies your treatment preferences when you are in a terminal or irreversible condition, a medical power of attorney designates someone to make healthcare decisions on your behalf if you are incapacitated but not at all necessarily in a terminal or irreversible condition, for example a young healthy person who has been in an accident and is temporarily unconscious in the hospital, but nowhere near a terminal condition, may need a medical power of attorney for someone to give permission to perform surgery.
But what if an accident or sudden illness or stroke leaves you incapacitated and in a terminally ill or permanently vegetative condition. What happens when there is a question about the medical treatment, procedures, and extreme medical interventions when you are terminally ill, or in a permanent vegetative condition? A Directive to Physicians allows a person to specify their wishes regarding life-sustaining treatment if they are diagnosed with a terminal condition or an irreversible condition. Under Texas law, an irreversible condition can include being in a permanent vegetative state or conditions such as end-stage Alzheimer's disease where the person cannot communicate or function in a meaningful way.
People have strong feelings about these things, like life support, pain management, and organ donation. You may want one thing while family members want another thing. Without a Directive to Physicians, your preferences may not be known, and if not known, those choices will be made by someone else––typically a close family member, and what they want may differ from what you would have chosen.
To maintain control over your medical treatment in the event life-threatening illness or injury leaves you without the ability to speak on your own behalf in these circumstances, you should consider having a Directive to Physicians. Directive to Physicians can be an integral part of anyone's estate plan. At Adams, King, & Smith, we will discuss end-of-life care decisions that you can make in a Directive to Physicians and then draft and execute a valid document. Even though most of us don't like to think about it, being well-informed and prepared for such things is much better than burdening our loved ones with such things. Contact us today online or at (903) 757-3331 to schedule a FREE CONSULTATION FOR WILLS, PROBATE OF A WILL, OR ESTATE PLANNING TO INCLUDE DIRECTIVES TO PHYSICIANS and learn more.
More about Directive to Physicians
A patient's Directive to Physicians only comes into play when the patient is unable to make decisions on their own and is in an irreversible condition, which can include being in a permanent vegetative state or conditions such as end-stage Alzheimer's disease where the person cannot communicate or function in a meaningful way. This can happen when the patient:
- Suffers from end stage dementia or Alzheimer's
- Is in a vegetative state
A Directive to Physicians allows doctors to provide the treatment that the patient would want, and withhold the treatment that the patient would not want, rather than having to guess what the patient would want. The medical preferences in the Directive to Physicians can be specific or general but you should consider most if not all of the following:
- Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), which restarts the heart when it has stopped beating
- Mechanical ventilation, which is a device that breathes for you
- Tube feeding, where fluids and nutrients are delivered either intravenously or by a tube in the stomach
- Dialysis, a method to remove waste from your blood and manage fluid levels if the kidneys do not function properly
- Antibiotics or antiviral medications, which are used to treat all sorts of infections
- Palliative care, which is basically comfort care to manage pain
- Organ, tissue, or body donations, which could mean that you are treated with life-sustaining care temporarily.
The Benefits of a Directive to Physicians in Texas
A Directive to Physicians helps alleviate the confusion and uncertainty that comes from caring for someone who is unable to decide what treatments they want to receive. It can also eliminate the guilt that a patient's loved ones can feel when they have to make a medical decision that could end the patient's life. Likewise, it can prevent disagreements or disputes among family members.
Contact us today about a Directive to Physicians
There are many reasons to have a Directive to Physicians, and having a well-drafted Directive is important. At Adams, King, & Smith, our estate planning attorney in Longview will go over all these things with you and help you determine what's best for you. Contact us today by either calling us directly at (903) 757-3331 or filling out our online form to schedule a FREE CONSULTATION FOR WILLS, PROBATE OF A WILL, OR ESTATE PLANNING TO INCLUDE TRUSTS and a Directive to Physicians.