National Healthcare Decisions Day is April 16 — Start the Conversation about Advance Care Planning
Posted on March 6, 2020
Advance care planning helps you make decisions about what care you would or would not want if you become unable to speak for yourself. These discussions can be difficult, whether for yourself, your partner, or a parent. Having the conversation early, in a non-urgent setting, may make it easier. We hope the following information will be useful in starting the discussion.
Advance Directives
Advance directives are legal documents that outline your decisions for end-of-life care and medical treatment. Advance directives are prepared ahead of time to ensure that your wishes are carried out if you are ever unable to communicate with your health care providers.
Types of Directives:
- A Health Care Proxy or Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care authorizes someone (often a family member) to act as your “proxy” or “agent,” allowing them to make decisions on your behalf if you become incapacitated.
- A MOLST (Medical Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment) is a standardized medical orders form, used in Massachusetts, that’s filled out after you talk with your doctor about your overall goals of care.
- A Living Will or similar document gives instruction for treatment. Although, not recognized in a court of law in Massachusetts, a living will usually states in general terms what treatments a person does or does not want. Other documents that specifically address problems and needs that might arise include The Five Wishes and Do-Not-Resuscitate orders.
Completing Advance Directives
Advance directives can be documented by your primary care provider (PCP) or attorney, or you can print forms and complete them with your family or caregivers. Once your advance directives are completed, bring copies with you to your preventive care visit with your PCP. Be sure to give a copy to your designated health care proxy and keep a copy for yourself in a place easy for others to find.
We have partnered with Honoring Choices® Massachusetts to provide you with an advance care planning toolkit. You can download the toolkit from our Forms page on our website at healthnewengland.org/medicare/forms.
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