What happens if I do not have a Health Care Directive?

What is a Health Care Directive?

A healthcare directive is a legal document through which the individual specifies what healthcare procedures he or she wants to be carried out for themselves in case the individual becomes unconscious or unable to communicate their wishes to their family and medical team.

The Benefits of Health Care Directives

Acquiring a health care directive has many benefits for its holder on the personal medical level and religious level as well as for their family and medical team as many medical scenarios can arise causing familial conflict and medical conflict that can be avoided with a health care directive.

Read below to get an ideal of some of those scenarios.

Suppose you don’t have a health care directive and, God forbid, you become incapacitated and cannot communicate your own decisions regarding your health care, your family would become responsible for those health care decisions.

What’s worse, if your family members cannot agree on health care decisions for you, they may be forced to go to court, which would allow a judge to make the decision for you. With a health care directive, you can save your family from fighting about your care and ending up in a hurtful court battle.

Furthermore, if you do not have a health care directive and a trusted health care representative, your doctors may not know how to perform Sharī‘a-compliant health care solutions for you. To ensure your health care is in line with your moral and religious values, you must sign a health care directive for your physicians to follow.

Health Care Directives with Shariawiz

Each Shariawiz estate plan comes with a Health Care Directive (also known as a Living Will and/or Medical Power of Attorney) that is state-specific, legally binding, and Sharī‘a-compliant.