Experiencing a serious injury, going into a coma or becoming terminally ill in North Carolina can quickly change your life. It may be impossible to let your loved ones or medical professionals know if you’d like to continue or discontinue treatment when you’re in this position. Fortunately, you can solve this dilemma early by utilizing advance directives. Doing so provides the guidelines you’d like them to follow when you cannot let them know physically.
Providing peace of mind
As you get older, the odds of becoming incapacitated become greater. Before you get into a situation where you can’t communicate your wishes regarding end-of-life care, creating advance directives should be completed. This action will likely provide peace of mind as it specifies your specific guidelines, concerns and wishes.
Eliminating confusion
Creating advance directives helps eliminate conflict during your end-of-life care. With proper planning, medical professionals and your loved ones will already know if you’d like life-giving resources stopped or continued. Having this document available helps avoid and eliminate any confusion regarding your decision for treatment.
Reducing stress
Having loved ones make the decisions for your end-of-life care can be challenging for them to complete. If you’re in a position where you can be kept alive, they may not want to end your life by taking you off life support machines. If you know you wouldn’t be happy in this position and would like to stop this process, creating guidelines for the situation would eliminate a significant amount of stress for family members.
Ensuring your quality of life stays intact
If you’re in a coma or have suffered an injury, your quality of life may be compromised. If you don’t want to live this way, having advance directives can help ensure your wishes are met and allow you to receive hospice care.
Having advance directives is essential for ensuring your end-of-life treatment matches your best interests and requirements.