Are Your Ducks in a Row? My Advance Directive Gift To You

October 20, 2021 | by Paul Ennis

Editor's Note: This blog was submitted by GNA member Paul Ennis as a means to share his years long project of developing his own highly personalized advance directive document. Paul is sharing this document as an example of how clear, detailed, and personalized such documents can be. This blog should not be considered legal advice. Instead, it's one advocate's gift to other advocates, patients, and loved ones so they can learn from Paul's quest to develop and create clear directions for his appointed agents if and when he is unable to advocate for himself.

Have you established your personal Advance Health Care Directive/AHCD and a Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care/DPOAHC? If not, I have a GIFT for you. I have worked for several years here in California on developing both an AHCD and a DPOAHC for myself and my wife. If you are curious about what goes into these legal documents — I would like to share with you what I have learned.

My Advance Directive Gift To You

The link below will take you to my Public Dropbox account and from there you can download a 'DRAFT Generic' .pdf copy of our AHCD/DPOAHC document for your consideration and review.

If you are curious about what goes into these legal documents — I would like to share with you what I have learned.

The twenty (20) clauses and all of the supporting information in this document were developed after considerable research online, personal introspection, and conversations with various consultants and legal professionals.

To be clear, my gift is not exactly FREE — you have to be willing to'do the work', to ask yourself the questions, to choose an Agent, and to take this document (once you have modified it for your needs) to your attorney and have them review it, notarize it, witness it, etc., in order to make it legal and enforceable in your State or Country.

If you are willing to'do the work' you will be rewarded with extreme peace of mind and a very tightly constructed AHCD/DPOAHC, as well.

By simply reading this document you will be prompted to think about these issues and how you would like to take the best possible care of yourself and your family in the future.

For your health care and end-of-life wishes to be known (when you cannot make them known yourself due to a medical condition and/or terminal state of affairs) requires that you have an Advance Health Care Directive in place that empowers an Agent to represent you, and protect you, and ensure that your health care wishes and end-of-life choices will be carried out.

There's no argument that serious illnesses, terminal states of health, and advanced degenerative brain diseases are not pleasant topics to talk about or consider.

But, if you are concerned about what might happen to you when/if these unfortunate things occur to you, or a loved one — you must know that an Advance Health Care Directive can ease many painful things for you and/or your family and friends when/if your state of health takes a sudden downturn.

To be clear, AHCD/DPOAHC documents are not fool-proof — nor fail-safe.

You may not agree with my choices as represented in our AHCD/DPOAHC...I just want to provide you with a «Call to Action» that encourages you to look deeply and clearly at these issues.

Yet, if you do not have them in place and legally enforecable in your State or Country then your wishes and desires for how you want your health care and end-of-life needs to be met in the future will be much more difficult to enact.

To be doubly clear, I am not providing you with legal advice nor medical recommendations — I am offering you the opportunity to review a typical AHCD/DPOAHC document format so that you can see if you want to establish something similar for yourself under the laws of your State or Country.

By simply reading this document you will be prompted to think about these issues and how you would like to take the best possible care of yourself and your family in the future.

You may not agree with my choices as represented in our AHCD/DPOAHC — if so, I want to encourage you to think about exactly what you want to have happen in your world and know that you have every right to your desires and wishes whatever they are.

I also have no desire to debate the ethics of future health care needs and end-of-life choices — they are too personal to each of us.

I just want to provide you with a 'Call to Action' that encourages you, and your family, to look deeply and clearly at these issues, which we all are going to confront at some time in our lives, and to take whatever first steps you can toward establishing an AHCD/DPOAHC that works for you and your loved ones.

I trust that my willingness to share what I have learned will be helpful and supportive of you and your family's health, safety and dignity.

Enjoy your days… – PWE

#pwepan #ppahn

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ja5n0k0iha9fn08/DRAFT%20COPY_Generic_AdvancedHealthCareDirective.pdf?dl=0