Advanced Directives… Something to Think About
No one likes to think about being in a position where they are not able to make decisions about their medical care; yet, the fact is that virtually everyone finds themselves in that very place at some point in their life whether they are there knowingly or not. Anytime a person undergoes an anesthetized procedure, they are asked if they have a “health-care proxy” in case it should be necessary. Most of the time it is just something that is not needed – that time!
A recent article in McKnight’s Long-Term Care News raised a red flag with regard to advanced directives and the fact that many residents in skilled nursing facilities do not have completed advanced directives in their medical records. The article written by McKnight’s staff writer, Emily Mongan, reported that “less than half of nursing home residents with end-stage renal disease have completed advanced directives.” This revelation should make the hair on the back of the necks of skilled nursing facility owners, administrators and directors of nursing stand on end! Why? Because, any time a resident becomes incapable of making their own treatment decisions, whether it’s a resident with end-stage renal disease or an alert resident who accidentally falls and injures their head, without a resident’s completed advance directive, the resident’s treatment often turns out to be not what the resident would have chosen.
The information for that astounding revelation came from a study that a group of researchers at Stanford University and the University of Washington published online recently in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.
In 1950, statistics indicated that half of the people who died did so at home. Today, about 85% of deaths occur in a medical facility, i.e., nursing home, hospital or rehab facility.
Did you know that today in the United States, only one out of every five adults has an advanced directive? Someone described this scenario as being like a man taking his car in for a tune-up and telling the mechanic, “If you find anything really wrong, just fix it. Then, send me the bill; but, if I am not able to pay for it, I’m sure someone else will!”
Here are some things about advanced medical directives you may or may not know:
- Advance directives are categorized as living will, power of attorney, and health-care proxy.
- A medical directive indicates the kind of care that a person would prefer be made on his or her behalf if they are not able to do that for themselves.
- A living will provides specific information about the kinds of medical treatment an individual would prefer if they are incapacitated.
- A health-care proxy is a document that names a person who can make health-care decisions in the event the individual making the designation is incapacitated.
Want to know more? Check out www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=7813.
