Virginia Living Wills & Advance Medical Directives

Advance Medical Directives or Advanced Medical Directives

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A living will, also know as an Advance Medical Directive (or sometimes an Advanced Medical Directive), allow you to express your wishes regarding your medical care and to designate an agent to carry out those wishes if you are unable to do so for yourself.

You can specify your wishes regarding:

• Life Support
• Resuscitation
• Analgesia
• Feeding
• Antibiotics

Learn more about Virginia living wills & advance medical directives

Living will, also known as an Advance Medical Directive (or sometimes an Advanced Medical Directive) are an increasingly popular option as part of a comprehensive estate plan, but they can also be drafted alone or as an added component to an existing estate plan.  While it is not pleasant to consider the situations in which this document may become useful, it will give you and your loved ones greater peace of mind if you create a living will to provide guidance and direction at a difficult point.

Living Wills - Defined

A living will, also know as an Advance Medical Directive, is a separate legal document from the rest of those involved in your estate plan. While the name may make it seem similar to a will or a living trust, the living will addresses an entirely separate issue related specifically to health care. An Advance Medical Directive (or Advanced Medical Directive) indicates your preferences for treatments when faced with conditions where recovery is highly unlikely. This document tells your loved ones and the medical staff which courses of treatment you would like them to pursue and which you are not interested in, if the situation arises in which you cannot speak for yourself.

Do I need a living will or an advance medical directive?

People have become more interested in these documents for a number of reasons including the fact that advances in medicine and technology have increased the number and type of options available for patients facing terminal illnesses and catastrophic injuries. A living will, sometimes known as an advance medical directive (or sometimes an advanced medical directive) is a good choice for almost everyone because it is impossible to predict when such a document may become relevant. Your loved ones may be unaware of your wishes and without a living will, could struggle greatly to make these emotional and challenging decisions. Knowing that they are acting in accordance with your wishes can be a great source of comfort for those that you leave behind.

As the requirements for an advance medical directive (sometimes known as an advanced medical directive) vary from one state to another, it is important to have this document drafted by a lawyer who has experience creating these documents in Virginia. The lawyers at Flanders and Wade have this experience so you can feel confident that your wishes will be followed. Additionally, it is a good idea to inform your loved ones and any medical professionals that may be consulted that you have created a document of this nature so that they can reference it if they ever need to do so. While one hopes that they will never need their living will or advance medical directive, it is a great comfort to know that you have attended to this detail. 

Advance Medical Directives

The term “advance medical directive” (sometimes referred to as advanced medical directive), refers to a document which expresses and designates your preferred treatment choices and designates the person to act as the decision maker in the event that you are unable to make medical decisions on your own behalf.

These directives generally fall into three categories: living will, power of attorney, and health care proxy.

About Us

Flanders and Wade specializes in providing low-cost simple wills and advance medical directives (or advanced medical directive), sometimes known as a living will in Northern Virginia including Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax, McLean, Vienna, Centreville and all of Northern Virginia.  We never charge more than we advertise or by the hour, and we never charge based on the size of your estate.