Albuquerque Living Will Lawyer

A living will records your wishes for medical treatment, helping loved ones advocate for you during times when you have been medically incapacitated. It is often accompanied by a medical power of attorney designation, a declaration of your preferred primary care physician, and medical orders obtained from a doctor — collectively forming what is known as an “advanced health care directive” (AHCD).

Taking the time to complete a living will, along with other components of an advanced health care directive, can not only help you maintain dignity and comfort, but it can also relieve family members from the burden of having to guess about what care you would want.

If you have concerns about what treatment you would receive to prolong your life in an emergency situation, take the time to speak with your doctor and an Albuquerque living will lawyer. A lawyer can provide you with information and advice during a confidential, no-risk consultation appointment.

They can inform you of your rights, along with the best practices to follow to ensure that your wishes are clear, legally compliant, and easy for your loved ones to follow.

Schedule a consultation with no obligation today when you call New Mexico Financial Law at 505-503-1637 or contact us online.

The 8 Most Important Decisions to Make With Your Albuquerque Living Will Attorney

Your living will — along with the rest of your advanced health care directive — is one of the most important documents you could make in your lifetime. By thinking ahead about what kinds of care you would want when you are incapacitated, you can prevent unwanted discomfort or unpleasantness in the wake of a dire medical scenario. 

Your living will clearly speaks on behalf of your preferences and values. It declares to loved ones and care teams that you have thought carefully about your end-of-life care, and you only want certain practices to be followed.

The alternative is that family members and other loved ones are left scrambling (sometimes even arguing) to make decisions about your care while you are incapacitated. Without advance health care planning, you could end up feeling uncomfortable and left to suffer at the hands of measures that could prolong your life, but that fail to offer you the quality of life you want to maintain.

Since your living will comes into effect when you are unconscious or otherwise incapable of communicating, it’s important to plan now, while you are well. An Albuquerque living will attorney can help you consider all of the instructions you want to provide.

They’ll go over your options, describe each major choice in detail, and help you put your wishes into clear terms so that they can be easily understood by everyone involved, when the time comes.

Some of the most important decisions you can consider with the help of your Albuquerque living will lawyer include:

1. Who do you want to serve as your medical agent, i.e., the person who makes decisions on your behalf when you are incapacitated? Who would you want to serve as backup(s) if this individual cannot be located or contacted?
2. Do you want to provide criteria that a court could use to guide their selection of a backup health decision-making agent in case none of your preferred choices are available?
3. Do you want your agent to only follow your instructions, or would you give them permission to make decisions, according to their best judgment? On the flip side: in what situations would you want to defer decision-making to your agent’s judgement, rather than having them follow your living will to the letter? For example, if there was a high chance that you could fully recover with minimal risk to your long-term quality of life, would you want your medical teams to try to resuscitate you?
4. Do you want your advance directive to apply when you are technically conscious but have lost the ability to communicate or mentally understand your situation? Or would you only want it activated when you are unconscious, such as if you enter a coma?
5. Are there certain types of care you would never want to receive, such as the insertion of a pacemaker? Or would you only refuse these types of interventions if your chances of survival were really low?
6. Is there a physician you want to designate as your primary care provider? Would you like to require that they are contacted before a determination of incapacitation is made?
7. Would you rather receive end-of-life care in your own home, rather than a hospital, if it is medically possible to provide the expected level of comfort there?
8. Are you interested in forming a living trust or designating someone with financial power of attorney, in case your finances need management while you are incapacitated?

In addition to all of these considerations, an Albuquerque living will lawyer can help you incorporate your living will within your larger estate plans. By taking the time to prepare a will, draft an advance health care directive, and assign account beneficiary designations, you can know with confidence what is going to happen to your body and your financial estate, even when you are not medically able to declare your wishes yourself.

What Is a Living Will? How Does One Work In Albuquerque?

The National Institute on Aging (NIA) describes a living will as “a legal document that tells doctors how you want to be treated if you cannot make your own decisions about emergency treatment.” This important document allows you to “say which common medical treatments or care you would want, which ones you would want to avoid, and under which conditions each of your choices applies.”

A living will can be highly customized, resulting in a document that uniquely captures your values, preferences, and instructions to medical teams in a legally enforceable way.

Some of the types of care that can be refused (or delivered only under certain medical circumstances) include:

• Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) — The use of chest compressions (and sometimes forced air) to stimulate the heart and encourage it to resume beating

• Intubation — The insertion of an endotracheal tube (ETT) into the throat, keeping airways open

• Defibrillation — The use of an electric current to stimulate the heart and (ideally) restart its rhythmic cycle

• Mechanical Ventilation (Ventilator) — The use of a breathing machine to force oxygen into the lungs

• Artificial Hydration (IV) — The insertion of an intravenous (IV) line to provide fluids, nutritional solutions, or medicinal compounds

• Artificial Nutrition (Feeding tube) — The insertion of a tube directly into the throat or stomach

• Pacemaker or Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillator (ICD) — The surgical implantation of a device directly into the heart to encourage a regular rhythm and prevent cardiac arrest

• Dialysis — The use of machines to cycle your blood in the event of kidney failure
• Antibiotics, Pain Meds, etc. — The use of medications to prolong life, provide comfort to the patient, or fulfill another medically beneficial purpose

You can decline any or all of the above procedures in all cases, or you can specify the types of care you would like to receive under certain circumstances. You are able to be as general or as specific as you want, within the confines of state law, when it comes to dictating the care you would want to receive when you lack the capacity to speak for yourself.

Are Living Wills Legally Enforceable in Albuquerque?

A living will is supposed to provide you with certain inalienable rights. These rights direct your surrogate and medical care teams to make decisions that align with your values and wishes. 

Care providers that knowingly and intentionally violate someone’s health care decisions (i.e., their living will) can face a minimum of $5,000 in liability, up to the amount of actual demonstrable damages that have been suffered by the patient “plus reasonable attorney fees” (NM Stat. § 24-7A-10).

Albuquerque — and the state of New Mexico, as a whole — has a strong track record for passing legislation that enables individuals to make decisions about their health and the types of care they would like to receive. When the Uniform Health-Care Decisions Act was first proposed in 1993, the state was the first one to pass its own version through legislation, enacting it in 1995.

Other Components of an Advance Health Care Directive in Albuquerque, in Addition to a Living Will

Your living will is just one part of your overall legal documentation known as an advance health care directive (AHCD).

In addition to stating your preferences for life-saving (or life-prolonging) medical treatment, your AHCD can also:

• Nominate an agent or surrogate who will make decisions for you, giving them durable power of attorney for health care
• Name your primary physician, who can be required to make a determination of medical and mental capacity, alongside at least one other licensed and qualified care provider
• Reference separate directives issued to your doctor and other care teams, such as a Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) order and other Medical Orders for Scope of Treatment (MOST)

Naming Your Health Care Agent or Surrogate

A health care agent can be designated through a document that officially gives them durable power of attorney for health care. Your agent is allowed to make any decision you could regarding your own care, unless there are specific instructions limiting their decision-making power or requiring them to make certain decisions according to your strict wishes.

Agents have unlimited authority to make decisions, unless they are restricted in some way. For example, they can not only make decisions about the types of care you receive, but they can also refuse consent for certain procedures, request a specific provider to treat you, or choose a specific care facility where you will receive care.

The election of your health care agent has to be in writing. You can also designate someone as your surrogate decision-maker by speaking your wishes aloud to a health care provider at a time when you have the capacity to do so and can understand the legal ramifications of your decision.

You should also designate at least one backup agent to prepare for a situation where your primary choice is unavailable, cannot be contacted, or is unable to be physically present within a reasonable time period.

If you do not have a designated agent or surrogate — or if any of your preferred choices cannot serve for whatever reason — state laws (NM Stat. § 24-7A-5) permit any of the following to act as a surrogate (in descending order of priority):

1. A spouse (unless they are legally separated from you or subject to pending legal procedures that would nullify or dissolve the marriage)
2. An individual who has been in a long-term relationship with the patient, acting in a similar role to a spouse
3. An adult child
4. A parent
5. An adult sibling
6. A grandparent
7. “An adult who has exhibited special care and concern for you, who is familiar with your personal values”

Revoking a Living Will

A living will can be revoked in writing or by making a request to an appropriate medical care provider while the individual has capacity. The revocation of an agent designated with power of attorney must be done in writing.

All other components can be revoked through other means of communication with your medical care team or with others who can accurately and faithfully represent your wishes for medical care.

When Does My Living Will Activate?

Your living will — along with other components of your advance health care directive — activates when two medical professionals make a determination of incapacity. One of these professionals can be a primary care physician of your choosing.

In some cases, your advance health care directive can specify the types of incapacity that would cause your wishes to come into effect. You can also dictate certain conditions that would immediately revoke your agent’s status or reinstate all means of life-prolonging care, such as if you show signs of significant medical improvement.

Advocate for Your Medical Choices With an Albuquerque Living Will Law Firm

Estate planning helps you have a say in how you are treated while you are alive, not just what happens to the assets in your estate after you die. A living will and advance health care directive supply critical documentation to capture your wishes and assert your legal rights to have dignity, comfort, and respect in moments where your future is uncertain.

Just as importantly, a living will helps your family members and other loved ones understand in clear terms what you would or would not want to happen to your body, should you lose the capacity to state your preferences on your own.

New Mexico Financial Law can help you understand all of the decisions available and create a living will that accounts for all of your most important wishes. Get started creating your advance health care directive when you call 505-503-1637 or contact us online to schedule a no-obligation case review.