End-of-Life Decision-Making and Options
Serving Valparaiso, Lafayette, and Granger
It is not easy to talk about dying. The challenge of talking about the topic makes it difficult to give guidance to spouse, other family members, or another person you may leave in a position to make a life or death decision. Your wishes should be the basis for the decision, not those of a person who is not making the best decision for you, but instead what that person or persons are comfortable with. These types of end of life decisions fall under the topic of advance directives. Information about advance directives are found at Indiana Code § 16-36-4.
This law allows you to write several types of advance directives:
- A Living Will
- Life-Prolonging Procedures Directive
- HIPAA Waiver
- Advance Medical Directives
A Living Will is a document that records your wishes and allows you to make those wishes known in the event you become terminally ill and unable to communicate. It is an advance directive that lists the specific care or treatment you want or do not want during a terminal illness. It may includes directions for use of artificial nutrition if taken off life support, use of a respirator, and blood transfusions. Your Living Will does not have to prohibit all life-prolonging treatments. Your Living Will should list your specific choices. It may state that you do not want to be removed from life support devices that are potentially, artificially extending the dying process, but you want a feeding tube for nutrition. You may even specify that someone else should make the decision for you.
A Life-Prolonging Procedures Directive is the opposite of a Living Will. It lets physicians know that you want all life-prolonging medical treatments used to extend your life.
A HIPAA Waiver – the federal government passed a law to protect your medical privacy, however, as a result every adult in America needs to sign the new HIPAA Waiver to authorize the doctors, nurses and hospitals to speak to the ones you love.
An Advance Medical Directive -there is no more Healthcare Power of Attorney in Indiana. The new law allows you to sign an Advance Medical Directive – this could save your life someday. The doctor will know who can make medical decisions on your behalf.
Indiana Law
In Indiana, for these documents to be legal, they need to be signed by the person executing the document, or, if signed by an authorized representative, the person for whom the document is being executed must be present. Each document needs to be witnessed by two witnesses, eighteen years of age or older. Either of these documents can be cancelled in orally, in writing, or by destroying the declaration yourself. Either can be amended by executing a new version.
Call us at (219) 240-0450 today for a consultation.
Your Resource for the Future
It is important to share with your primary physician(s) that you have a either of these advance directives or if you make any changes to it. The cancellation takes effect only when you tell your physician.
You have specific needs to address your circumstances. Wills, Powers of Attorney, trusts, and other documents may be part of your Estate Plan. The best way to start, in order to better understand what you need to protect yourself, your family, and the things you own, is to talk with an experienced professional about your goals and your concerns. We invite you to contact our office to set up a time to meet for an initial consultation. The initial, thirty minute consultation is complimentary and can be a great way to get started in the process of building a plan to meet your specific situation.
Contact us today or call us at (219) 240-0450 to get started.
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Granger Reviews
Setting up my trust with rice and rice was the best experience because they took their time went over everything. I was able to comprehend the trust in layman’s terms. Thank you to Jeff and Tom at the Granger office also to Crystal! - Sarlin Y.
I've dealt with a lot of attorney's in my profession and don't have a very high opinion of many of them. They all are expensive and Cliff is no exception but I found him to be kind, knowledgeable and I was happy with what I received. The staff was very friendly and supportive. - Trina H.
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Lafayette Reviews
Our experience with Rice and Rice was very favorable. All of the attorneys were friendly and very helpful in explaining our situation while walking us through our options. The Lafayette staff (Melody and Crystal) were super gracious in facilitating our requests and meeting our needs. I cannot say enough about this faith-based organization and would highly recommend their services. Thank you. - Larry S.
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Valparaiso Reviews
Anyone can go anywhere for estate planning, but at Rice & Rice they really connect with you. Your stories and tears are really more than just stories and tears. I highly recommend & very thankful for them! - Roman M.
Rice & Rice are very professional and they were very helpful. I have delt with them since 2003 and have always had such good advice. Amy also helped me and she is great. She made me feel comfortable and helped me understand what might have been confusing to me. Thank you! - Sharon K.
We are grateful for the attorneys and staff at Rice & Rice. From our first appointment we knew they were the perfect fit for us. They have the knowledge and experience in elder law and estate planning to help us ensure that our wishes are fully documented and will be easily understood by our family. We now have peace of mind as we go forward in life. You do have a choice. Ours was Rice & Rice. - Lori F.
Cliff was excellent. Very informative and eye opening. Food was excellent. Service was excellent. Music was soothing. Crystal was very helpful. We look forward to meeting with him and the rest of his staff on Friday! - Pete B.
Superior in every single respect! In my life's work, attorneys were my clients. I can quickly state that Rice & Rice is the most comprehensive, efficient, and truly caring from top to bottom. The complicated areas are detailed to you, completely provided in an organized book, and you are left knowing all will be well and your contact with Rice and Rice is easily completed. They care for the most important decisions of your life for yourself and your family in the most top notch way possible. You will have complete peace of mind and complete trust when you work with this firm. My recommendation could not be stronger! - Anna B.
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