Advanced Directives free essay sample

Does your family know what you want should you become extremely ill or injured? Are you comfortable with allowing them to make a decision about your end of life care? If not, you would be interested in doing some Advanced Directive. Health Care Advance directives are legal documents that allow you to convey your decisions about end-of-life care ahead of time. They provide a way for you to communicate your wishes to family, friends and health care professionals, and to avoid confusion later on. â€Å"Normally, people communicate their wishes directly to their doctors. But when a person can no longer communicate sufficiently, another process for decision-making is needed. That is the role advance directives play. If no advance directive has been prepared, someone else may be called upon to make health care decisions that the person may not want. † (Sabatino, 2007) Most people think that advanced directives are for elderly people that however are just not true. We will write a custom essay sample on Advanced Directives or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The fact remains that younger people have more to lose should something happen to them then older people. A perfect example of this would be if you were in a terrible car accident, being 29 years old, with a growing family, having major head injuries, and being on a ventilator. Does your spouse know what you want should that happen? If you had an advanced directive living will written, your spouse would know that you do not want to be kept alive if the ventilator is doing everything for you. Or if you are an elderly man, who is in his late 90s and has had multiple bypass surgeries. If you want to be a DNR, should the next surgery not be as successful, you would need to sign some legal documents to make that official. Those documents are need so your wishes can be carried out by your family without your family members having to make that difficult decision when they are not emotionally stable. There are a few different types of Health Care Advanced Directive documents; the two primary ones are a living will and a durable medical power of attorney. A living will gives instructions and directive for your health care management. Where as a durable medical power of attorney appoints a person (called an agent or proxy) to make decisions for the patient (the principal) in the event of incapacity. Living will A living will expresses a persons preferences for medical care (it is called a â€Å"living will because it is in effect while the person is still alive). Living wills become effective only when the patient has lost capacity to make health care decisions and the patient has a particular condition defined by state law—usually a terminal condition or permanent unconsciousness. To be valid, a living will must comply with state law. Many states have specific forms available for people to complete. Some states require that living wills be written in a standardized way. Most are more flexible, permitting any language as long as the document is appropriately signed and witnessed. A living will they cannot realistically anticipate all the serious medical circumstances the person may face in the future; and the written document may not be available at the time and place needed. Items that are usually covered in a living will are: †¢ what medical treatments and care are acceptable to you? Are there some that you fear? †¢Mechanical ventilation †¢Artificial nutrition and hydration †¢ Do you wish to be resuscitated if you stop breathing and/or your heart stops? †¢CPR †¢defibrillation †¢ Do you want to be hospitalized or stay at home, or somewhere else, if you are seriously or terminally ill? †¢ How will your care be paid for? Do you have adequate insurance? What might you have overlooked that will be costly at a time when your loved ones are distracted by grieving over your condition or death? Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care A durable power of attorney for health care is a document in which one person (the principal) names another person (the agent, or the attorney-in-fact, or proxy) to make decisions about health care. A power is durable if it remains legally effective or becomes effective, when the principal becomes incapable of making health care decisions. A durable power of attorney for health care differs from a living w ill in that it focuses on the decision-making process and not on a specific decision. No living will can anticipate all possible circumstances. Thus, the power of attorney can cover a far broader range of health care decisions. Once in effect, the agent can act in the here-and-now, review the medical record, serve as an advocate, discuss care and questions with the medical staff, and decide what the patient would want or what is in the best interest of the patient. The durable power of attorney for health care can include a living will provision—a description of health care preferences—or any other instructions but should, preferably, do so only as guidance for the agent, rather than as a binding selection. † (Sabatino, 2007)