For the sake of everyone, It is hoped that you will never be incapacitated or hospitalized, and that a long, healthy life awaits you. But just in case you are urged to make the simple arrangements for an advanced directive, sometimes called a durable power of attorney for health care. Do this for yourself and for the people you love. Do it now, while you're strong and healthy. They might be the most important documents you ever sign. The advanced directive and durable power of attorney for health care directly affects the quality of your life and the quality of your death--the manner in which you leave this world. The right to die, which means the right not to be put on life support, is something we've only had in the United States since 1990. It is a right explicitly granted to us in decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court. Since that time, however, the courts in the different states have made it clear that unless you put your wishes in writing, a doctor does not have to cease life support for you, no matter how devastated your body is, no matter how much competency you've lost, no matter how much of a vegetable you've become from whatever it is that has befallen you. The reason this is important to you, not only emotionally but financially, is that most health insurance policies put a cap on the maximum amount they will pay for an illness. This maximum varies from policy to policy, but the average is about $1 million. So, after your insurance company has paid out about $1 million in benefits, it's done. The rest is up to you and your loved ones. With cost of hospitalization skyrocketing, surely you can imagine that it would not take long to reach the maximum if you happened to be on a life-support system in a hospital. And yet the medical bills would keep piling up. Having an advanced health care directive and durable power of attorney for health care is part of being responsible to your family, not only on an emotional level, but on a financial level as well. An Advance Directive For Health Care Also known as a living will, a directive to physicians, a health-care declaration, an advanced health-care directive, or a medical directive, the advanced directive for health care is a written document that dictates what you want to have happen to you if you are incapacitated. You can choose from three basic options: You want to prolong your life for as long as possible, without regard to your condition, your chance of recovery, or the cost of treatment. Although the legal authority for setting up a DPOA for all health care decisions was established under the federal Patient Self Determination Act of 1990, these rights must be asserted to make them both real and inclusive. This is true of all new civil rights laws, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), also passed in 1990. Three important elements in making a Advance Directive for Health Care work for you: Select your agent with care. Will the agent carry out your wishes or will the agent impose on you what they would have wanted for themselves or what they think is best for you? Does your agent know the psychiatric system well enough to be useful in enforcing your wishes? Even more important, does the agent have the gritty determination sometimes needed to go to bat for your preferences even when they conflict with a doctor's idea of what you need? Do not accept or rely upon hospital directives . Hospital directives only address a particular visit at that particular provider. You need to have a directive in place prior to any event, known by family members and a close acquaintance (agent) in place prior to going to the hospital. Be as specific as possible in your written instructions in an Advance Directive for Health Care. Address physical as well as psychiatric incapacity. Whenever possible, write out instructions of what you do find useful in a crisis: Advance Directives are not only for refusing treatment. For the minority who find it comforting to have the system control them when they lose self-control, state very clearly what treatment you want, by whom, in what circumstances You do not want your life to be prolonged unnaturally, unless there is some hope that both your physical and mental health might be restored. To protect themselves, hospitals will offer you a generic power of attorney. This simply protects them for your visit. It does not protect you at any other hospital, care center, etc. You need to bring your own Advance Directive documents with you. Durable Power Of Attorney A durable power of attorney for health care (may also be called medical power of attorney, a health care proxy, an appointment of health care agent or surrogate) is a document that designates someone who will have the authority to make health-care decisions if you cannot because of an incapacity. The person appointed may be called a health-care agent, a surrogate, an attorney in-fact, or a proxy. Your family members will not have to guess at what you want. It protects them if you become seriously ill, because they will not have to make difficult about your wishes. In the durable power of attorney for health care, you must decide in whose hands you want to put your life--who, that is, will make the final decision to take you off life support, if the decision ever has to be made. It is best to have an agent and two alternates, in case the person you have chosen is not available. Choose people who love you yet are strong enough to do what you would want them to do. This is not an easy position to be in. TO VIEW THE ADVANCE HEALTH CARE DIRECTIVE CLICK HERE!!