Yorkville Advance Healthcare Directives Lawyer Serving Kendall County

There are many estate planning documents that an attorney can help you create. While many of these documents will focus on how your property and other issues will be handled after your death, others can address how issues related to your medical care will be addressed while you are still alive. These documents are known as advance healthcare directives, and they can be used to make your wishes known in the event that you become incapacitated and are unable to make decisions for yourself. By addressing these matters ahead of time, you can help your family avoid uncertainty about what you would have wanted, and this can minimize confusion and disagreements in what is likely to be a difficult situation.

When you work with Gateville Law Firm to create advance healthcare directives and address other estate planning issues, we will do everything we can to ease your concerns as you prepare for the future. Whether you want to help your loved ones avoid the heavy burden of life-or-death decisions or are looking to ensure that you will be as comfortable as possible as you receive medical treatment, we can help you set down your wishes in legally-sound documents that will provide for your needs.

Different Types of Advance Directives

As the name implies, advance directives allow you to make decisions ahead of time and provide instructions on how certain matters related to your health and medical care will be handled. In Illinois, multiple types of advance medical directives are available, including:

• Living wills – This type of directive sets forth your instructions regarding the use of life-sustaining medical treatment. If you become terminally ill, meaning that a doctor determines that you have an incurable condition that will result in your imminent death, your living will may specify whether you do or do not want to receive treatment that will delay your death. If necessary, you can provide specific instructions about the types of treatment that should or should not be provided in certain circumstances.
• Do-not-resuscitate orders – Generally, if someone suffers a heart attack or stops breathing, emergency medical personnel will attempt to revive them through CPR. However, in some cases, you may not want to receive this type of treatment. For example, if you are in the terminal stages of a cancerous illness, you may not want to be resuscitated because you will likely die soon anyway. To address these situations, you can sign a do-not-resuscitate order that instructs medical personnel not to provide CPR if you suffer a cardiac or respiratory arrest.
• Mental health treatment preference declaration – If you are diagnosed with a mental illness, this directive can detail your wishes for the types of treatment you do or do not want to receive. Specifically, you can make decisions about medications, electroconvulsive treatment, or admittance to a mental health treatment facility.
• Healthcare power of attorney – This type of directive appoints an individual (known as your “agent”) to make decisions about your medical care if you are unable to do so yourself. Your agent can make any type of decision that you could make, including decisions about life-sustaining treatment. With a power of attorney in place, you can address situations that may not be covered by other advance healthcare directives, such as serious non-terminal illnesses that leave you unconscious or cause you to be unable to communicate your wishes to medical professionals. Your medical power of attorney can provide detailed instructions about the types of care you do or do not want to receive in certain situations.

Contact Our Yorkville Advance Medical Directives Attorney

If you have questions about advance directives or need assistance with any issues related to estate planning, contact Gateville Law Firm today. We will take the time to understand your unique needs and help you create a plan that protects your interests. Call us today at 630-780-1034 to schedule a free consultation. We provide 99 percent of our clients with flat-rate legal services.