Advance Directives

Posted on June 25, 2012

An advance directive is a document that clearly states your wishes regarding healthcare and end-of-life decisions should you become too ill or injured to state your wishes
for yourself.

Types of Advance Directives:

A Durable Power of Attorney is when you name someone to act on your behalf regarding financial and legal matters. This person cannot make certain healthcare decisions for you. Most people use a lawyer to complete these forms.

A Health Care Proxy is a legally binding document that names someone to make healthcare decisions for you should you be unable to do so (this would be determined by two doctors at the time the proxy is invoked). You do not require an attorney to complete a healthcare proxy form. This form is usually available at your PCP’s office, or you can download one from these websites: agingwithdignity.org or caringinfo.org. These websites have information that can answer many of your questions about advance directives.

A Living Will is a document that spells out in more detail which types of procedures you want and to what extent you want the doctors to go to keep you alive. Massachusetts does not regard most living wills as legal documents, but they are a very important resource for doctors and families to use when following your wishes. An example of a living will can be found at agingwithdignity.org – look under the heading Five Wishes.

Why It’s Important:

The purpose of advance directives is to ensure that your wishes are followed even if you can’t state them yourself. It is important to discuss your wishes with family and friends so that your loved ones are aware of what you want and how you want to be treated. This may prevent your family from having to try to decide during a very stressful and emotional time what you “may have” wanted.  They may not choose what you would choose, or there may be family disagreements if you haven’t made your wishes known.

Thus, it is very important to choose someone you trust to follow your wishes.

Ask yourself:

• Will this person feel comfortable speaking up to medical professionals and asking questions?
• Will this person be able to emotionally handle all the information at a stressful time?
• Will this person be able to make tough decisions if need be?

If you answer yes to these, then the person you have chosen will likely be a good advocate for you.

Finally, it’s important to realize that you are never too young to put advance directives in place.  Anyone 18 or older is eligible to fill out these forms for themselves.  Remember, accidents and traumatic injuries don’t just happen when you are “older” – they can happen to any of us, and an advance directive is a way to help your family help you when you need it most.

Categories: Summer 2012