NATIONAL HEALTHCARE DECISIONS DAY - April 16, 2010
I’ll bet you had no idea that April 16th is National Healthcare Decisions Day! Hallmark may not have developed a greeting card to mark the occasion, but highlighting the importance of advance healthcare decision-making is worthwhile. Hopefully, as a result of National Healthcare Decisions Day, many more people will think about their healthcare decisions and complete reliable advance directives to make their wishes known.
Having swift and immediate access to well-drafted healthcare directives in a medical emergency can reduce stress on patients, hospital staff, and most importantly, loved ones. This is why, as part of our service of providing comprehensive estate plans, we make sure that our clients complete advance healthcare directives, including a Designation of Healthcare Surrogate, Living Will, and HIPAA release.
Although we counsel clients to make healthcare decisions before an actual medical emergency occurs and stress the value of having the necessary documents prepared, that is not enough. We take our commitment to our clients one step further by making sure that our clients’ healthcare directives are immediately available to them, to family members, and to the hospital in an emergency. We know that clients don’t take their advance healthcare documents after leaving our office and stuff them into their wallet, so they always will be available. It does not do any good to have beautiful documents sitting in a drawer at home after an encounter with one of Jacksonville’s less skilled drivers results in you being transported to a hospital in an ambulance while unconscious. This is why we provide to our clients a wallet card that will enable a hospital to obtain the client’s legal directives and other critical medical information around the clock, even if the client can’t communicate.
One of our goals as estate planners it to help make sure that everyone has protected themselves and the ones they love by completing advance healthcare directives. National Healthcare Decisions Day helps highlight the importance of advance healthcare decision making. Celebrate the day by making your healthcare decisions. Here’s wishing you a stress-free April 16th!
