2 Wisconsin Circle Suite 700, Chevy Chase, MD 20815 | mprofit@profitlawfirm.com | (301) 882-3670

Building Legacies that Last Estate Planning and Elder Law

Learn How We Can Help You
Read Our Blog
Get Our eNewsletter

Tag: Maryland Living Will

Posted on

Planning for Accident or Illness

MP900314367It is impossible to know whether you will ever have an accident or have an illness that will leave you incapacitated.  However, you can easily plan for dealing with it should it happen.

Most people generally understand that the older they get, the more likely they are to suffer from cognitive decline because of Alzheimer's or some other form of dementia. As people get older, they often begin to prepare for what will happen if their time comes and they become incapacitated.

What people do not think about is that elder dementia is not the only way people can become incapacitated. There are no age requirements for disabling accidents or illnesses. Everyone, no matter their age, should plan for what would happen if they are incapacitated. It is not difficult to do, as TC Palm discusses in "Be as prepared as you can by planning for incapacity."

To get started, schedule an appointment with an estate planning attorney. The attorney can prepare the necessary documents for incapacity.

You will need a general durable power of attorney, so someone else has the authority to handle your day-to-day finances. A health care power of attorney will allow someone else to make your health care decisions. A living will lets you decide ahead of time what medical means can be taken to prolong your life.

Consider taking another step at the attorney’s office and get an estate plan, just in case an accident or illness does more than incapacitate you.  A thorough estate plan prepares you and your loved ones for illness and death.

Reference: TC Palm (Feb. 20, 2018) "Be as prepared as you can by planning for incapacity."

 

Posted on

Fates Worse than Death

Old-couple[1]A new survey of elderly patients reveals that for many of them death is preferable to living under certain conditions.

Medicine has traditionally been focused on trying to keep patients alive, with the notion being that dying is the worst thing that can happen to someone. However, it has always been known that not everyone agrees.

Many terminally ill patients have sought ways to end their own lives and they now have the right to do so in a few states. A new study reveals that it is not just the terminally ill who might prefer death.

Fox News Health reported on the survey in “What's worse than death? Dementia and breathing machines, patients say.”

Elderly patients were asked about a wide range of possibilities and whether they viewed them as worse than death.

Conditions such as being confined in a wheelchair and being at home all day were seen as preferable to death by the majority of those surveyed. However, a wide range of conditions were seen as worse by a majority, including having dementia, incontinence, needing a feeding tube and being unable to get out of bed. The survey was conducted of a very small group of elderly patients who had serious illnesses so it might not be representative of a larger sample.

Anyone who is concerned about living with a condition they think would be worse than death should visit an estate planning attorney to get a living will. This document will allow you to give advanced directives to doctors about treatments not to give you if you become terminally ill with no chance of recovery.

Reference: Fox News Health (Aug. 2, 2016) “What's worse than death? Dementia and breathing machines, patients say