Creating a health care directive is one thing many people either don’t consider or simply avoid.  Just as it’s hard to face the necessity of creating a will, it’s also difficult to face the need for creating a health care directive.  As hard as it might be, it’s absolutely critical to put into writing your health care wishes because you can all too quickly become ill, incapacitated, or otherwise not able to make medical decisions entirely by yourself.  In these situations, having a valid health care directive in place will ensure your wishes are honored and help your loved ones with the process of making care decisions if necessary.

Why do you need a health care directive?

Everyone ought to have a health care directive to ensure their family, friends, and health care providers are well informed about your preferences and wishes for a variety of health care decisions.  Topics covered generally include those associated with medical treatments, medical tests, end of life care, organ donation, and the like.  These are difficult topics to discuss, especially if you remain in good condition, but it’s far better to have these conversations and put your wishes into writing before you and your family actually face what can be very emotional and stressful decisions.

For the vast majority of individuals, health and wellness decline gradually over a period of time meaning they and their family face a series of decisions along the way.  If you are not able to make those decisions yourself, how will your loved ones know what to do on your behalf?  With a health care directive set up your wishes will be known and respected throughout whatever medical situation arises.

What should your health care directive include?

The specific requirements for preparation and validation of a health care directive vary from one state to another, so be sure to look into the laws in your own state.  However, there are some common areas that each and every health care directive should address:

• Who will execute your health care choices?  Select a person you trust who’ll be designated as the person responsible for ensuring your wishes are followed.  This could possibly be your spouse,an adult child, a close friend, or some other person whom you trust.  Be sure to discuss your wishes with this person in advance and obtain their consent to act in this role.

• What medical treatments do you want/not want?  There is a huge variety of treatments that fall into this category, including cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), use of a ventilator, use of a feeding tube, surgical procedures, medications, and the like.  Some people prefer to receive aggressive care while some choose to receive more general care that’s focused much more about maintaining quality of life during illness and end of life situations.

• What kind of pain management and palliative care do you want?  As your health deteriorates, you and your family will face choices about how best to manage any pain you might be having and generally help you stay as comfortable as is possible as long as possible.

Within each one of these categories there are various variations and details to consider, which are too numerous to list here.  It is important to find the suitable language and forms used in your particular state.

Where to get help with your health care directive

Preparing a valid health care directive is something you can do on your own if you like because in our modern internet world it’s relatively simple to obtain your state’s forms and directions for filling them out.  The actual steps involved in filling them out, though, is something you should strongly consider doing with plenty of discussion with the person designated to execute your wishes and your family.  It’s also a good idea to talk with your doctor concerning this process and take into account her or his experience in dealing with families in making health care decisions

There are also lots of resources available to get help with your health care directive, including:

• Your lawyer

• Your physician

• Local senior services

• American Association of Retired Persons (AARP)

• Your local hospital or medical facility

It’s worth noting that some companies advertise across the country promoting their services to help with health care directives, however they generally don’t possess the expertise you will need to fully understand the details of your state’s laws.  Many of them simply charge you a fee to refer you to a local service provider when you could just as easily find that local provider on your own.  The best approach is usually to thoroughly check out potential providers before making your final decision about which one to use.

These are effective points we wrote in our article, but it isn’t the only place to find this information.  We have found other places like this one about health that you may find useful .  If you liked the post please share it with your pals on Twitter.

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