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Celebrate National Healthcare Decisions Day

We like to think that we will always be capable of making our own health care decisions. Sometimes, however, it doesn’t work like that. A stroke, an automobile accident, Alzheimer’s disease—any number of circumstances might limit or take away a person’s immediate ability to make health care decisions. The Gerontological Society of America recently reported that nearly one in four older Americans today receives “excessive or unwanted medical treatment” because they had not earlier made their wishes known.

Fortunately, you have the power to think and act ahead of time for such situations. There are two types of legal documents that are referred to as advance directives: health care appointments and health care directives. 

Health care appointments 

A health care appointment, also called a durable power of attorney for health care or a health care proxy, is a document that lets you give someone else the power to make decisions for you if a time were to come that you couldn’t speak for yourself.

Who would be the person you would most trust to make those decisions for you? That is the person you should appoint as your health care representative. If for some reason the person who would be your first choice were not available to act for you, who would be your second choice? Most forms designating a health care representative allow you to name an alternate.

Although no one is under any obligation to fill out a health care appointment, it is the most flexible sort of advance directive. Your health care representative can make decisions for you in a wide variety of unforeseen situations. Your representative has a legal obligation to make decisions for you based on what you would have chosen for yourself. Therefore, the appointment of a health care representative significantly extends your ability to control your health care decisions.

If you wish to name an individual as your health care representative, ask the person if he or she is willing to take on that responsibility. If the person agrees, then you should sit down with him or her and have a frank, detailed conversation about your feelings and values concerning health care and the kinds of treatment you would or would not want. Along with this conversation, be sure to give your health care representative copies of your health care directive.

Health care directives 

A health care directive or living will is another way of extending control over your own health care. This document lets you say what kinds of care you would or would not want if you were nearing the end of your life. A health care directive usually refers to “life-sustaining measures.” These are advanced medical treatments that can keep a person alive past the time when death would very likely occur. Examples include CPR, dialysis, ventilation (using a machine to breathe for a person), tube or needle feeding and antibiotics to fight an infection that could hasten death. 

If you were near the end of life, would you want your life to be extended by these steps? Some people would respond “yes” to some or all of these technologies; others would answer “no.” If you fill out a health care directive, that document will ask you for your preference regarding specific treatments if you were at the end of your life. It is a common misperception that you should fill out a living will only if you don’t want any life-sustaining treatment at all. In fact, your living will allows you to specify precisely what treatments you would like and which ones you would refuse. Most health care directives also have a space to write down any preferences not covered in the specific treatment questions asked.

If you do fill out a health care directive, give a signed and witnessed copy to your primary physician, your health care representative, your hospital, and any other major health care institution or organization with which you are connected. It is also wise to share the contents of your living will with your family and close friends. Let them know what you would want. Doctors and hospitals may become uncomfortable when the family is surprised by a family member’s wishes as stated in a living will, especially if family members disagree with the patient’s wishes. You can make it easier for everyone by talking openly with your loved ones about what you would want.

Learn more 

Visit the National Healthcare Decisions Day website (www.nhdd.org) to find more information about healthcare planning, and to access free advance directive forms for the state in which you live. 

 

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