Los Angeles Advance Health Care Directives & HIPAA Lawyer

What Is an Advance Health Care Directive & What Does It Do?

Your advance health care directive gives your named agent the power to make decisions about your health and well-being.

In the event you cannot communicate your wishes on your own—when you are incapacitated, unconscious, heavily medicated, on life support, or in a coma—an advance health care directive can be used to:

• Authorize or withhold medical treatment and procedures
• Declare caregiver decisions
• Outline your pain management preferences
• Select caretaker facilities
• Make “life and death” (“pull the plug”) decisions

If you would like to learn more about advance health care directives and HIPAA release authority documents, we invite you to schedule a free consultation with the Law Offices of Maria N. Jonsson at your earliest convenience. Our Los Angeles advance health care directives attorney has more than 15 years of experience and understands the nuances involved in creating a well-drafted estate plan.

The Importance of Your Health Care Directive

Your advance health care directive is an extremely important document that literally places your life in the hands of your chosen agent. For that reason, it is very important to carefully choose this individual. It should be someone you trust implicitly with your life and who has the fortitude to do that which you wish should be done under such critical circumstances.

This person will not only make medical decisions for you but also be given access to your medical records. To facilitate this process, your HIPAA release authority will authorize and permit your agent to obtain your medical records (as required by law) and will release the holder of records from the liability of doing so, both under federal and state law governing the privacy of medical records.