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Advanced Directives – My Personal Experience When Planning for the Unexpected 

by Dan A. Baron, Baron Law LLC
My Story 

Like many of you reading this article, I never thought a major medical disaster could happen to me or, if something did happen, that I wouldn’t be competent enough to make decisions for myself. Well, as a “relatively young” guy, I was recently unpleasantly surprised when I needed emergency surgery to prevent permanent paralysis from a herniated disc in my back. Five years ago, I was practicing my golf swing on a late Thursday afternoon at Sleepy Hollow in Brecksville, Ohio. I’m a terrible golfer, and I wanted to ensure I wouldn’t embarrass myself the next day while playing with a colleague. 

While practicing, I decided to see how hard I could hit the ball. I swung tremendously hard, slicing the ball out of bounds. Without warning I had excruciating pain suddenly occur in my back and my legs went limp. I was on the ground unable to move or reach my phone. Luckily, a friend was nearby and he called EMS. I have never experienced anything more painful in my life. The paramedics gave me a shot of fentanyl for pain – it did nothing. Upon arriving at the hospital, the nurses gave me a shot of morphine – it did nothing. Then the doctor ordered a powerful drug and pain killer known as dilaudid. After an hour of being on a combination of fentanyl, morphine, and dilaudid, I was finally relieved of pain and in addition, also relieved of my mental abilities to make sound medical decisions… 

After my MRI, the doctor delivered alarming news: I had a severe lateral herniated disc that had ruptured and was compressing the nerves controlling my legs. Without emergency surgery, I risked permanent paralysis in my right leg. Because the herniation was lateral, the procedure was more complex. Although she was capable of performing the surgery, she recommended waiting three days for her colleague – who had greater experience with this type of case – to return from vacation. However, due to the heavy pain medication I was on, I lacked the mental capacity to make this decision myself, leaving the choice to those I had designated in my advance directives. 

What are advance directives? 

Simply put, advance directives are legal documents that provide detailed instructions about who should oversee your medical treatment and what your end-of-life or life-sustaining wishes are. In the event you are unable to speak for yourself, like in my case of mental incapacity, the medical professionals can contact someone else who has authority to make those decisions for you. Though there are many advance directive documents out there, the three most common are Healthcare Powers of Attorney, HIPAA Authorization and a Living Will. 

Healthcare Power of Attorney – A healthcare power of attorney allows you to appoint a trusted person to make all healthcare decisions in the event that you are unable to make them for yourself. 

Living Will – A living will eases the burden on your healthcare POA to ‘pull the plug’ when you are in a permanent vegetative mental state. 

HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) – Medical records are private and are covered under the HIPAA laws. Your Healthcare POA must have the authority to obtain your medical records through a properly executed HIPAA authorization. 

My Healthcare POA 

I had been admitted to the hospital and the surgeon needed a decision about when to proceed. She asked to contact my healthcare power of attorney, and I readily agreed, offering her name and number – until I realized my phone hadn’t come with me when EMS brought me in. Like most people, I didn’t have phone numbers memorized, leaving me unable to reach my power of attorney. To make matters worse, due to COVID restrictions, the friend who had called EMS wasn’t permitted into the hospital to help. 

The nurse reviewing my chart discovered that my healthcare power of attorney was already on file, naming my agent including her contact information. Because I was not thinking clearly at the time, it hadn’t even occurred to me to ask her to check. In a fog, I then remembered that I practice what I preach – I had completed my advance directives three years earlier and uploaded them to all three major hospital systems: the Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals, and MetroHealth. If you already have your advanced directives in place, I recommend uploading them with all three major hospitals systems. 

The hospital called my Healthcare POA and she came to my rescue. As a nurse herself, she knew exactly what medications I was on and how to interpret the medical situation. Moreover, and critically important, she knew how to handle the insurance barriers that come with getting medical treatment. Had I not completed my Healthcare POA, Living Will and HIPAA several years prior, I may have had a surgery from an inexperienced surgeon or worse yet, may have been paralyzed for life. Additionally, had I not uploaded these precious documents with my local hospitals, I would not have had my healthcare agent’s phone number. 

When I preach to clients about maintaining updated advanced directives I am preaching from experience. I didn’t need them, until I needed them! Advanced directives are easy to obtain and require minimal effort to have them uploaded to local hospitals. I implore you to have them drafted by an attorney or at the very least, complete them the next time you’re at your doctor’s office. For more information or to learn how Baron Law can help you complete your advanced directives, contact us at 216- 573-3723. 

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Baron Law LLC
Crowne Centre, Suite #600
5005 Rockside Road
Independence, Ohio 44131
216-573-3723
www.baronlawcleveland.com

Opinions and claims expressed above are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of ScripType Publishing.