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Advance Care Planning
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Advance Care Planning
The recent headlines regarding the Terry Schiavo case have many people talking about medical advance directives. End of life care is not something we like to think about. Yet, sometimes families are faced with difficult decisions and their loved ones are unable to communicate their wishes. This can be due to permanent coma (or other unconscious state), which can leave them unconscious , and without hope of recovery, terminal illness, a condition from which a person is expected to die within a short period of time, or irreversible brain damage, which can affect their ability to think as well as communicate. It is right as a patient to accept or refuse medical care. Advance directives can protect this right if you ever become mentally or physically unable to communicate your wishes due to an injury or illness.
While this process is important for all age groups, some of the most difficult end-of-life decisions involve young people. Between the ages of one and 44, the most common cause of death is trauma (motor vehicle accidents, homicide, suicide, drowning). Such causes of death or profound, severe, permanent damage cannot be predicted. For this reason, EVERYONE needs advance care planning, not just older or chronically ill people.
The following information is taken from the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services.
Advance care planning is a process for assuring that a person's wishes are carried out if he or she becomes incapacitated due to health conditions. A person considers his or her values about the end of life, and discusses those values with family, health care providers and others who are important in their lives. They then complete documents that record those decisions for the future.
Texas las provides a number of useful advance-planning tools. Three standard forms, known as advance medical directives, provide direction for medical professionals and family members who may have to make critical decisions regarding treatment, resuscitation, disposition or property, and other matters. An attorney may be helpful when completing advance directives, but standard forms are available to anyone and, when properly completed, are legally valid. Advance directives, which may be revoked at any time, include:
- The Medical Power of Attorney is used to designate a trusted person who can make medical decisions and communicate with doctors should become incapacitated.
- The Directive to Physicians and Family or Surrogates is a written statement to family and physicians that can prohibit or authorize the use of particular life-sustaining medical treatments when a person's condition is terminal or irreversible. It allows a person to put into writing any kind of medical care they want to receive or decline when they are expected to die soon.
- The Out-Of-Hospital - Do-Not-Resuscitate (DNR) instructs emergency medical personnel and other health care professionals to forego resuscitation measures in an out-of-the-hospital setting.
These forms can be downloaded at Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services website.
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