consider this scenario. You are in a hospital with a terminal disease, unconscious, connected to all kinds of medical machines, and has a very poor prognosis. Who will speak for your sake for the duration of this time of disease? Who would tell the doctors, the nurses and your family members what your medical wishes are if ever you get into this terminal condition? Who would let your caregivers know what you would like to occur to you and your body in such a condition like this? Would you like to be kept alive by all means? Or would you quite determine not to be subjected to futile treatments knowing that this is not a dignified living for you? But how would you let every one know all these wishes now that you are no longer competent of speaking up for yourself?
this is the reason why advance health care directives (ahcd) are very primary. As a clinical counselor working in a hospital for assorted years now, i have personally worked with families and witnessed them break detached because they could not agree in getting medical and end-of-life decisions for the dying loved ones. Their loved ones, who were unable to speak up for themselves, didn’t have an advance directive. Remember the terry schiavo case?
i have witnessed some cases where, because people who are in need of medical care didn’t have an ahcd, families and caregivers are plagued with guilt and have always asked themselves if they were making the “right” decision for their loved one or for themselves. Yet, i have also witnessed some cases where, because people who are in need of medical care had an ahcd, their families and caregivers felt at peace, in spite of the pain, just because they knew they were honoring their loved one’s medical wishes as reflected on their ahcd.
what are advance health care directives (ahcd)?
ahcd are legal documents that makes it possible for you to do the next:
1. Appoint or designate a primary and secondary power of attorneys for health care whom you trust to speak for your sake and honor your medical wishes in an event that you could no longer speak up for yourself.
2. Appoint a primary physician whom you trust to be your doctor or caregiver.
3. Make your end-of-life wishes known.
4. Make your wishes known in regards to organ donation.
5. Make your wishes known in regards to pain control.
for an ahcd to be legal, it has to be signed by you (the person creating the document) before two witnesses. These witnesses could not be your indicated power of attorneys or your prompt family members or your health caregivers where you receive medical care. Close friends or distant relatives could be witnesses. If you can not find witnesses, the document could be notarized by a notary. The notary can only notarize an advance directive if you have a valid photo id (e. G. Driver license or passport). This procedure applies in particular in california. Other states can have dissimilar processes.
i would also like to refer to that a living will is a kind of ahcd. Also, an ahcd could also be known as “durable power of attorney for health care. “
what do you do with your advance health care directive?
once you invented your ahcd, you keep the initial and remember to keep it in an accessible place in your home. If possible, make assorted copies to give to your indicated power of attorneys, your primary physician and to your hospital. I strongly encourage individuals to always bring a copy with them whenever they go to the hospital so that the hospital will not only have a copy of your document but also will know and honor your medical wishes. While creating an ahcd is not mandatory, it’s a federal law that hospitals have to ask people who are in need of medical care for the duration of their admittance if they have an ahcd.
where can you get advance health care directive forms?
most, if not all, hospitals have ahcd forms. You can always ask your hospital if they have available forms. You can also ask your doctor if he/she has a form. There are some web sites now on the net that offer ahcd forms. Just do a search on “advance health care directives. “
i believe that your completed (the right way witnessed or notarized and signed) ahcd is legally recognized in states other then your own. Nevertheless, since each state can have its own froms and probably laws on ahcd, its best to always bring an extra copy with you when traveling.
who can fill out an ahcd?
many folks think that an advance health care directive is just for people who are in need of medical care who are terminally ill. Not so. Any competent adult, 18 years old and above, can fill out an ahcd. I remember dealing with the family of a 20 year old woman who ended up on a persistent vegetative state (pvs) as a consequence of a car accident. Her parents ended up divorcing just because they could not agree as to what to do with her in her grave condition. The mother believed that her daughter loved life such a lot that she would not like to be living in such a terrible medical condition where there’s no dignity of life any longer. The father thought otherwise. This sad break-up of a family would haven’t happened if, even at early age, their daughter had an advance heatlh care directive.
i strongly encourage you to talk to your physician or family members in regards to this difficult yet very primary subject. I just hope that this article has been a source of aid.
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