Having a signed directive provides clear instructions during medical emergencies, reduces confusion for loved ones, and helps clinicians honor your preferences. It also designates a trusted decision-maker, clarifies acceptable treatments, and can protect families from costly, unanticipated probate challenges when medical choices become contested.
Consistency across care settings ensures your plan remains enforceable regardless of where treatment occurs, creating a unified approach that doctors, nurses, and family can follow with fewer conflicts and delays.
Choosing a trusted attorney ensures your directives are accurate, enforceable, and aligned with your values. We listen carefully, draft precise language, and coordinate with your healthcare team to support your wishes.
Plans should be reviewed annually or after major life events, such as marriage, relocation, or a change in medical status, to ensure they accurately reflect current wishes and legal requirements, and institutional policies to maintain accuracy over time.
An advance directive is a legal document that records your health care choices and designates who will speak for you if you cannot communicate. It covers preferences about medications, life-sustaining treatments, and your overall goals for care. When you prepare one, you provide doctors and family with clear guidance, reducing uncertainty in stressful moments. It also helps avoid unwanted treatments and clarifies who should advocate for you when decisions are urgent.
Your healthcare proxy should be someone you trust to understand your values and communicate effectively with doctors. This person acts when you cannot speak for yourself, making medical decisions in line with your documented preferences. Consider discussing roles early, choosing an alternate proxy, and ensuring they are comfortable with the responsibility. Provide your attorney and physician with contact details and a copy of your directive.
Yes, you can update your directives as your health, beliefs, or caregivers change. Maryland law generally allows amendments or replacement directives, as long as the new document follows proper execution and revokes prior versions. We recommend reviewing documents every few years and after major life events, such as marriage, relocation, or a change in medical status. This helps ensure ongoing alignment with your goals.
Directives created in Maryland are enforceable under state law when properly executed. They must meet formal requirements, such as signatures and witnesses, and align with medical practice standards. Having them reviewed by an attorney helps confirm validity. We ensure documents reflect your values and are accessible to clinicians and loved ones, even in urgent situations.
If you lose capacity, directives and a designated healthcare proxy become the primary guide for medical decisions. They help clinicians follow your known wishes when you cannot communicate clearly enough. Regular updates and discussions with your attorney before this occurs help ensure your plan remains accurate. We recommend reviewing the document with your proxy supports consistent care when the moment arrives too.
Yes. A living will describes specific end-of-life treatment preferences, while a broader directive may appoint a proxy and outline medical care goals. Together they create comprehensive guidance for clinicians and families. We ensure consistency across documents and confirm that they work in harmony with Maryland law.
You can revoke or amend your directive at any time while you have capacity. Notify your attorney and healthcare providers to ensure records reflect the change and provide updated copies. If capacity is lost, revocation is not possible; instead, your agents should act within the scope of the directive. We review options with family and clinicians in such situations to guide care.
Conflicts can occur when family wishes differ from documented directives. A legal professional can interpret intent and facilitate communication with medical teams to resolve discrepancies. We review the documents, adjust language, and authenticate updates to ensure consistency across care settings, for everyone involved, so your documents meet Maryland requirements and remain usable for clinicians and families when needed.
Maryland requires certain witnessing or notarization for directives, depending on the document type. Following the law helps ensure the directive is valid and accessible. We guide you through the process, and we can arrange compliant signing and storage options and provide lists of acceptable witnesses so your documents meet Maryland requirements and remain usable for clinicians and families when needed.
Regular updates are recommended after major life events such as marriage, birth, relocation, or a new diagnosis, and as medical technology or laws change. This keeps your plan accurate and usable. We can schedule periodic reviews and provide clear instructions for revocation or replacement to maintain accuracy over time.
