If you are like most Americans (about 30% according to some statistics) you do not have your medical wishes put down in writing. I have written about Advanced Directives and advised clients to have documents in place for the “unforeseeable life event”. One such event that comes immediately to mind is the most recent tragic flooding in parts of the United States.
Your medical wishes include legal documents like advanced directives, your medical preferences, and your choice of a “medical decision maker” (that person who will make medical decisions for you, if you are incapacitated for any reason.) In its most basic form, Advanced Directive is a legal document to be utilized in a medical situation/emergency when you are unable to make your own health care decisions.
Just think of a worst case scenario... you then have a very good reason to put down in writing your future wishes. Many believe that this type of document is only for the elderly, infirm, or chronically ill. Nothing could be further from the truth. If you are single, have a young family, travel a lot, have a chronic medical condition, have a high risk job...then you have an overwhelming reason to have in place some form of medical directive.
There is another consideration concerning this important document, and that is…Where do you keep it? It is certainly no good to have a medical directive document in a safe deposit vault in New York; a home safe in Colorado or the locked top bureau drawer of your summer home in South Carolina, when you are on your way to a hospital in Georgia.
In former times, there was the “new idea” to place a telephone number on one’s cell telephone under the acronym ICE (which emergency personnel would understand meant- In Case of Emergency). Presumably, first responders would find your cell telephone, turn it on and seek the ICE number hidden there. This was a lot to assume under hectic emergency situations.
Another solution has been to give a copy to your designated “medical decision maker” and HOPE that they are available should the need arise to contact them. What if that person lives in another state? Is on vacation in another country? Or having their own crisis?
Technology (in the form of the American Bar Association’s Commission on Law and Aging smartphone app) has stepped in to offer one partial and practical solution to the Question: Where Should I keep important medical information and medical directives? Answer: On my smartphone (or on a family member’s smartphone device). My Health Care Wishes is a “free app to safeguard your wishes.” According to their website the app is “designed to revolutionize information sharing during a medical crisis…” There is the free version and also a Pro version that offers “unlimited storage” where you can store such legal documents as advance directives, living wills and health care powers of attorney. The website also offers some interesting scenarios about how valuable the app can be in an emergency.
My one comment is, like many of us who are security conscious; our mobile devices are “locked” with security codes and passwords. (Some devices have even more sophisticated security features, like retinal or fingerprint display recognition). If this is the case, then having legal documents on a mobile device that cannot be accessed without security codes might be a problem.
On a final note, First, make sure you have an advanced directive document; Second, keep it in a place (or several places) where it is easily accessible in an emergency; and Third, keep it updated.
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This post has been brought to you by the Law Office of Barbara Ann Dalvano. This information is provided for educational purposes only and to generate ideas, provoke thought and facilitate conversation. It is not intended to create an attorney-client relationship. Each person’s situation is different and this information should not and cannot be relied upon as legal, tax, accounting or investment advice.
Barbara Ann Dalvano, Esq.
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