An Advance Health Care Directive allows you to name a specific person to make health care decisions for you when you can’t make them for yourself and provide instructions regarding your wishes and desires for health care, including what treatment is not desired.

Other names for advance health care directive include health care powers of attorney, durable powers of medical attorney, health care proxies and living wills.

An Advance Directive for Health Care or Living Will lets you:

• Name a specific person to make health care decisions for you when you can’t make them for yourself.
• Plan for surgery or hospitalization.
• Assist your loved ones with difficult decisions.
• State your wishes so that it is more likely that they will be carried out.

Ensure your wishes are carried out in case something happens to you. In a time of crisis, the last thing you want is to have your loved ones try to guess your health care wishes.

Create your Advance Health Care Directive now>>

Recently the Human Rights Campaign published the Healthcare Equality Index, an annual survey of healthcare industry policies and practices related to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals and their families. The goals of the HEI are: 1) to benchmark healthcare facilities on identified best practices and policies with respect to equal treatment of LGBT individuals and families; and 2) to share, implement and recognize these best practices with healthcare industry leaders.

To read more about the study and results click here.

Start now, create your Advance Health Care Directive for a peace of mind>>

LegalOut is excited to welcome Allison McDonald as a guest blogger. Allison is an attorney with the Law Office of Allison M. McDonald, P.C. located in Decatur, Georgia. Allison’s practice concentrates in family law — specifically divorces, custody issues and adoptions, and estate planning with at least half of her clients being in the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) community.

Allison is the perfect person to talk about life and estate planning for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals, marriage rights for same-sex couples and legal documents LGBT couples and individuals can use to protect their relationships and wishes.

“We are thrilled to have Allison on board to blog about estate planning for LGBT individuals and couples, whose basic civil rights, depending on state legislation, can be restricted. Even with recent states passing marriage equality for same-sex couples, the federal government does not recognize marriages of same-sex couples and many states have passed laws denying recognition to marriages of same-sex couples,” said LegalOut’s President Lindalisa Severo. “Allison will contribute articles that will help LGBT individuals keep informed on how they can protect their wishes.”

Allison has reviewed the following documents for LegalOut: Hospital Visitation Authorization, Shared Parenting, Domestic Partnership, and Known Donor Agreements, all of which are key legal documents to structure a couple’s parenting arrangements, provide hospital visitation rights and outline responsibilities of each partner when a couple decides to form a long-term committed relationship.

“In these uncertain times, it is important to take all the necessary steps to protect yourself and your loved ones.  In most states, the law specifically limits the rights of same-sex couples.  LegalOut is an essential resource to any same-sex couple that wants to take that next step and plan for a life together,” said Allison McDonald.

Email to contact the Law Office of Allison M. McDonald, P.C.

Check out Allison’s first blog: The Importance of Legal Planning for LGBT Individuals and Couples

Explore the legal documents available on this site… your first document is free and yours to keep!
——–
LegalOut is a subscription-based online resource center that provides the LGBT community with assistance in preparing legal documents through an easy-to-use, online format. Available documents are living wills, domestic partnerships, financial and health care power of attorney, co-parenting agreements, and many others. In addition, the site provides resources to keep members informed, empowered, and protected – connecting LGBT individuals, families and business operators with lawyers who understand the unique needs of the LGBT community.