An advance healthcare directive exists to serve an important purpose. Unfortunately, the loved one appointed to make decisions cannot make them until the document is recovered or replaced, assuming the patient has the capacity to do so. In the meantime, everyone is left in the lurch and the very things you may have planned to avoid begin to fall into place against your wishes all the same.
How do you avoid this? For starters, ensure that you or a loved one keeps the document handy at all times. In addition, provide a copy to each of your physicians and request that it be maintained in your official medical records. Failing that, the important people in your life should know where to get it or whom to ask for a copy. For example, your estate planning attorney should have a hard copy in your client file.
