The estate planning document which addresses your health care wishes when you become incapacitated is referred to in Connecticut as your “Health Care Instructions”. This document is also known as a “Health Care Proxy”, “Advance Medical Directives” or “Health Care Power of Attorney” in other states. The document typically states who you have chosen as your representative when it comes to making medical decisions on your behalf. These decisions often include electing a certain type of surgery, medicine changes, therapy or discharge planning. It grants your agent access to your medical information, which is normally barred to third parties under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA). In most cases, it also contains “Living Will” language, which lets your medical team know that you do not want to be kept alive in a genuinely hopeless situation.
In the world of your typical estate planning documents, this is the one potential “emergency” document, meaning that it may be necessary for family or friends to access this document immediately, without any warning. No other estate planning document really falls into this category. Therefore, making sure that the important people in your life have easy access to this document can be vitally important.
Many doctors and hospitals prefer to see original, hard copies of this particular document. Since medical providers can be very liability averse, they tend to get nervous when handed a photocopy of this particular legal document. Therefore, ideally, you should have several original copies of your health care instructions and they should be spread out amongst your health care agents, your doctor, your estate planning attorney and your own records.
I have some clients who keep an original health care document in the glove compartment of the car since their car tends to be wherever they are. However, there is one item that usually follows us everywhere these days, and that is (obviously) our phones. Therefore, it’s a good idea to keep a photo of each page of your health care document on your phone. Again, an original paper copy would be better, but in a pinch, a .jpg file is 100% better than nothing at all.
DISCLAIMER: This blog does not offer legal advice, nor does it create an attorney-client relationship. If you need legal advice, consult with a lawyer instead of a blog.
