Advanced Directives

Posted by: matthew

Maria Lopez, Administrator for All Valley Home Care in Brawley, California, shares some helpful information about planning for the future. As a senior home care provider Maria advises and educates her clients about senior care options, including planning for future health care needs.

Even if you are doing well now, it is a good idea to prepare for a time when you might not be able to care for yourself on your own. It is best not to wait until you are in a crisis and assume your health care provider and family will know what you want. Having a plan in place will save your loved ones the stress of making those hard decisions for you; The plan will ensure your wishes are respected when the time comes.

In some states, hospital staff must keep you alive as long as possible if they don’t know your wishes. This may or may not be what you want. Without a written plan, choices about your care may be made by a health care provider or even by the courts.

The best way to make sure your health care wishes are followed is by putting them in writing. A written plan for your health care is called an Advance Directive. This is only used when you become so sick that you can’t make choices yourself.

Types of Advance Directives

• Living will: tells what treatment you want at the end of your life.
• Durable power of attorney for healthcare: lets you choose someone who can make choices for you if the time comes when you can’t make them yourself.

How to Write an Advance Directive

Get a copy of your state’s forms for a living will and a durable power of attorney. You can usually get them from a hospital, law office, or senior center or even online at www.CaringInfo.org.

Choose someone to be your health care agent, which is the person you want to speak for you when you can’t speak for yourself. Make sure the person you choose is someone you can trust and is willing and able to take on this responsibility.

When filling out the forms it is important that you ask a family member or lawyer to help if you don’t understand them. Make sure to check if your state requires the forms to be notarized or witnessed.

Make sure to provide copies to your health care providers, your family and your health care agent.

Considerations About Life Support Treatment

• Do you want CPR if your heart stops?
• Do you want liquids or food given to you through a vein or stomach tube if you can no longer eat or drink?
• Do you want a tube in your windpipe and the use of a breathing machine if you cannot breathe on your own?
• Do you want kidney dialysis if your kidneys stop working?

Also think about what you want depending on how sick or hurt you are, what the chances of your recovery are, and what your life would be like if you choose the treatment to keep you alive. Sometimes, using treatment to keep a dying person alive can cause unnecessary suffering. These may be difficult choices, but planning for the future is something you need to consider.

If you would like assistance or information you can always call us at 1-866-273-2995, visit our Senior Home Care Agency Directory, or fill out this simple online form. Get Help Now!