How can you record and share your healthcare wishes securely?
Recording your healthcare wishes means putting three things in order: documenting the care you would and would not want, naming the person you trust to speak for you, and storing both where your family and clinicians can actually find them. Making your healthcare wishes visible is an act of compassion—for yourself and those who care for you. We never know what the new day can bring to us, so it gives peace of mind to have plans in place. Solace Care gives you a secure digital vault to record these wishes and share them with exactly the people who need access — nothing more, nothing less.
The order of work matters less than starting. Many people begin with a simple written note about their treatment preferences, then formalize it into an advance directive, then name a trusted person to speak for them — appointing that person formally only where their country's law allows it. Each step you complete removes one decision your family would otherwise have to make blind.
Which documents should your future care plan include?
Advance care directive (living will): Your preferences for treatment if you can’t communicate.
Trusted person: The person you trust to speak for you. Whether you can also give them legal power to make medical decisions depends on your country — in Sweden, for example, a future power of attorney (framtidsfullmakt) cannot cover health care or dental care.
Financial power of attorney: A trusted person empowered to manage finances if you’re incapacitated.
Organ & tissue donation preferences: Clear, accessible indications of consent.
Medical summary: Conditions, medications, allergies, and key clinicians.
These documents work as a set. The advance directive says what you want, the trusted person is who your care team can talk to when the directive does not cover the situation (and, where the law allows it, who decides), and the medical summary gives clinicians the context to act quickly. Formal requirements for directives and powers of attorney differ by country, so check the rules where you live — in some countries a healthcare directive is an informal document that clinicians respect when available, while powers of attorney typically need to meet specific signing requirements to be valid. Storing a document in Solace Care does not by itself make it legally valid.
Why does documenting healthcare wishes support your family?
Respect for your choices: Clinicians and loved ones know your wishes.
Reduced conflict: Clear guidance lowers pressure on family during crisis.
Faster care decisions: Readily available documents prevent delays.
Holistic planning: Complements your will and digital legacy instructions.
When nothing is written down, families are left to reconstruct your wishes from memory — often under time pressure, and not always in agreement with each other. A documented plan replaces guesswork with your own words. It also spares the person closest to you from carrying the full weight of a decision alone: they are following your instructions, not making the call themselves.
How do you keep these documents accessible when they are needed?
Keep these documents digitally accessible on mobile and desktop.
Share read-only access with your trusted person and at least one backup.
Store a short “In Case of Emergency” (ICE) card with how to reach your trusted person.
Revisit after life changes: diagnosis, marriage, separation, or new caregiving needs.
A common pitfall is completing the paperwork and then filing it where no one can reach it — a locked drawer, an unnamed folder, an email account nobody else can open. In Solace Care you upload or record each document once and share it with your trusted person and a backup person, so they can see the version you have saved. When you update a document after a life change, the people you have shared it with can see the new version too. Copies that were downloaded, printed or handed over earlier will not change, though, so date each version and tell your doctor and your trusted people when you update your wishes. If the original must stay on paper, note its physical location in your plan.
Documenting healthcare wishes in advance is one of the highest-leverage steps you can take to spare your family days of end-of-life admin and uncertainty. You can start recording and sharing your wishes today at app.solace.care.
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