Quickly create your Maryland health care directive
You can complete FindLaw’s attorney-created health care directive forms in less than an hour at home. Our guided process takes you through a few easy steps and includes a free HIPAA release form. You’ll be able to download, print and sign your documents in no time.
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Benefits of having a Maryland health care directive
Health care directives ensure your health care wishes are known and carried out if you become infirm. Patients can leave individual instructions about end-of-life care and life-sustaining treatments. This way, family members and health care providers will know your treatment preferences and be able to make decisions on your behalf.
FindLaw can help you create a customized Maryland health care directive to protect your interests and reduce stress on your family and medical team.
FindLaw provides everything you need:
How it works
Create your health care directive in under an hour
Create an account
Create a secure account which is accessible through an easy dashboard you can access any time
Gather information
Decide who will be your health care agent/proxy, which treatments you would request or refuse and release your records
Complete your document
Answer all questions, then we’ll generate your digital documents for downloading, printing, and signing
Make it legal
Print and sign your document according to instructions. Give copies to your doctors and agent/proxy
Plan for your future with confidence
This free guide will help you:
Learn the most common estate planning terms
Understand the essential estate planning tools
Gather critical information with an estate planning checklist
What’s next to make my Maryland health care directive valid?
Follow these steps:
Choose your health care agent
A health care agent is a proxy whose job is to make health care decisions for you if you cannot make such decisions for yourself. Your agent should be an adult that you trust to advocate for you if you become incapacitated. Your agent must make decisions based on your wishes and not the opinions of family or friends.
You should also consider finding an alternate agent. Your alternate agent should share the same trustworthy and decisive qualities as your primary agent. Remember that another agent will not make health care decisions for you unless your principal agent cannot or will not do so.
Make health care planning decisions
The purpose of having a health care directive is to make crucial health care decisions for yourself while you can. It is hard to think of not being able to speak, being permanently unconscious, or not advocating for yourself. Therefore, a health care directive is an essential part of your medical records so that in the event of incapacitation, your decisions will already have been made.
Some medical treatment preferences that you may want to consider when completing your health care directive include:
- Whether you want to allow natural death or remain on life support in the case of a terminal condition
- If you wish to stay on life support if you are in a persistent vegetative state
- Preferences for care in your end-stage condition
- Preferences for pain relief
Sign your health care directive
Maryland state law provides that you must sign your health care directive in the presence of two adult witnesses.
Notarize your document
Notarization is not required in Maryland for your signature or the signature of the witnesses. However, it may be prudent to have the signatures notarized if your witnesses cannot verify their signatures. A notary page removes the need to have your witnesses independently verify their signatures.
Share and store your document
Your health care directive should be included in your medical records. Consult your health care agent about ensuring that your health care directive is available to your medical team when you are hospitalized. Keep your document in a safe place and give a copy to the person you named as your health care agent.
You may want to speak with a lawyer if:
- Your family disagrees with your medical choices
- You don’t know who to appoint as your agent
- You have questions about life prolonging measures
- You want legal review of your completed document
Ready to start your Maryland health care directive?
Create my health care directiveMaryland health care directive commonly asked questions
A health care directive, also known as an advance directive, is a legal document under Maryland law that states your medical treatment preferences in the event of your incapacity. This document protects you by keeping you in control of your medical care even if you cannot communicate your wishes.
In Maryland, a legally valid health care directive must be:
- Voluntarily made
- In writing
- Dated
- Signed by the declarant (you)
- Signed by two witnesses
An agent’s authority is limited only when you are incapacitated, meaning you cannot speak or communicate your medical treatment preferences. However, you can choose when your agent’s authority begins. You can choose to have decision-making authority when you sign the document or have the power come into effect once you become incapacitated.
A health care directive can be revoked by the declarant (the person making the health care directive) at any time. In Maryland, a declarant can revoke a health care directive by:
- A signed and dated writing revoking the document
- A statement withdrawing the health care directive to the declarant’s attending physician
- Writing a new health care directive
- Destroying the document (e.g., burning, tearing, shredding, etc.)
No, creating a health care directive and naming an agent does not mandate the agent to pay any of your health care costs.
You do not need to hire an attorney to make a legally valid Maryland health care directive. FindLaw’s team of attorneys has created a form that will take you step-by-step through the process of completing your document from the comfort of your own home!
FindLaw is not a law firm, and the forms are not a substitute for the advice or services of an attorney. If you have a complex case, or would like a lawyer’s review of your estate planning documents, please visit our directory to find a lawyer near you.
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