For them, naming a health care agent might be a good approach, especially if there is someone they feel comfortable talking with about their values and preferences.
A named proxy can evaluate each situation or treatment option independently. Other advance care planning documents. You might also want to prepare documents to express your wishes about a single medical issue or something not already covered in your advance directive.
A living will usually covers only the specific life-sustaining treatments discussed earlier. You might want to give your health care proxy specific instructions about other issues, such as blood transfusion or kidney dialysis. This is especially important if your doctor suggests that, given your health condition, such treatments might be needed in the future.
A DNR do not resuscitate order tells medical staff in a hospital or nursing facility that you do not want them to try to return your heart to a normal rhythm if it stops or is beating unsustainably using CPR or other life-support measures. Even though a living will might say CPR is not wanted, it is helpful to have a DNR order as part of your medical file if you go to a hospital.
Posting a DNR next to your bed might avoid confusion in an emergency situation. Without a DNR order, medical staff will make every effort to restore your breathing and the normal rhythm of your heart. A similar document, called a DNI do not intubate order, tells medical staff in a hospital or nursing facility that you do not want to be put on a breathing machine.
A non-hospital DNR order will alert emergency medical personnel to your wishes regarding measures to restore your heartbeat or breathing if you are not in the hospital. Organ and tissue donation allow organs or body parts from a generally healthy person who has died to be transplanted into people who need them. Commonly, the heart, lungs, pancreas, kidneys, corneas, liver, and skin are donated.
There is no age limit for organ and tissue donation. You can carry a donation card in your wallet. Some states allow you to add this decision to your driver's license.
Some people also include organ donation in their advance care planning documents. At the time of death, family members may be asked about organ donation.
If those close to you, especially your proxy, know how you feel about organ donation , they will be ready to respond. There is no cost to the donor's family for this gift of life. If the person has requested a DNR order but wants to donate organs, he or she might have to indicate that the desire to donate supersedes the DNR.
That is because it might be necessary to use machines to keep the heart beating until the medical staff is ready to remove the donated organs. Learn more about organ and tissue donation. Brain donation is different from other organ donation in that the brain is donated to scientific research.
By studying the brains of people who have died — both those who had a brain disorder and those who were healthy during life — researchers learn more about how particular diseases affect the brain and how we might better treat and prevent them.
These forms serve as a medical order in addition to your advance directive. They make it possible for you to provide guidance that health care professionals can act on immediately in an emergency. Once signed by your doctor, this form has the same authority as any other medical order. Check with your state department of health to find out if these forms are available where you live.
If you decide to choose a proxy, think about people you know who share your views and values about life and medical decisions. Your proxy might be a family member, a friend, your lawyer, or someone in your social or spiritual community.
It's a good idea to also name an alternate proxy. It is especially important to have a detailed living will if you choose not to name a proxy. You can decide how much authority your proxy has over your medical care—whether he or she is entitled to make a wide range of decisions or only a few specific ones.
Try not to include guidelines that make it impossible for the proxy to fulfill his or her duties. For example, it's probably not unusual for someone to say in conversation, "I don't want to go to a nursing home ," but think carefully about whether you want a restriction like that in your advance directive. Sometimes, for financial or medical reasons, that may be the best choice for you.
Of course, check with those you choose as your health care proxy and alternate before you name them officially. Make sure they are comfortable with this responsibility.
An advance directive for health care authorizes the person you choose called a health care representative to make health care decisions for you in case you are in an accident or you become ill or disabled in a way that makes you unable to make those decisions yourself. You can also use the advance directive to give your doctors and other health care providers instructions about the types of end-of-life care that you do want and that you do not want.
An advance directive does not include the power to make financial decisions. If you want to authorize someone to make financial decisions for you, you should sign a durable financial power of attorney. You are in charge of making your own health care decisions as long as you are able to do so. The health care representative does not have the power to make health care decisions for you unless your doctor or other health care provider determines that you are not capable of making and communicating health care decisions.
The inability to make health care decisions may be temporary. You can start making your own health care decisions again if you regain the ability to do so. The health care representative has the power to make most of the types of health care decisions that you could make for yourself.
Some examples of those health care decisions are: Choosing a doctor, consenting to changes in medication, and making arrangements for long term care.
You can use the advance directive form to authorize your health care representative to make decisions about life support and tube feeding. The health care representative is required to follow your wishes if your wishes are known. To make things a little confusing, states use various terms to describe their advance directive forms. Advance directive is the general term that refers to the various documents that could include a living will, instruction directive, health care proxy or health care power of attorney.
Some states combine the two forms so you can record your treatment preferences and name your health care advocate in one document. Visit the AARP state page for information about events, news and resources near you. You are leaving AARP. Please return to AARP. You'll start receiving the latest news, benefits, events, and programs related to AARP's mission to empower people to choose how they live as they age. You can also manage your communication preferences by updating your account at anytime.
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In some states, you need to make clear and give permission in your advance directive that you don't want to be fed through a tube or receive other kinds of life support. Sometimes you and your family may need help agreeing on the best way to meet your medical needs.
Eldercare mediation can help families work together. If you've decided to write an advance directive, you've taken an important step to make sure that your health care wishes are met. When you write your advance directive, think about the kinds of treatments you do or don't want to receive if you get seriously hurt or ill.
If you have questions and need help to get started, see what things to include in an advance directive for some ideas.
Involve your family, your health care agent , and your doctor as you write your advance directive so they'll know what you want. If something happens that you didn't plan for, they'll have a better idea of how you would want to handle it. There are many choices to make when you write your advance directive. Some of these have to do with whether you want certain treatments. Look to your family, your doctor, and your friends for help and support.
Don't just cross out or add new details unless it's only to change your address or phone number. Author: Healthwise Staff. Medical Review: Anne C. This information does not replace the advice of a doctor. Healthwise, Incorporated, disclaims any warranty or liability for your use of this information.
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