Advance Health Care Directive Support 

There are many benefits to having signed directives on file with your doctors and loved ones. These documents have the foresight toempower you as a patient if you are unable to speak for yourself, by providing you with the opportunity in advance to declare what kind of health care you prefer in this situation. You can also express your philosophical and religious beliefs around death and dying, as well as your preference for dying at home or in a hospital. Medical directives can also reduce confusion and conflict among your loved ones and caregivers for them to know what you want in advance. And they can offer you peace of mind that will enhance your end of life experience, because your personal wishes and needs for healthcare will be known and honored. 

This offering is for you and up to 3 people of your choosing to meet with me in person or over zoom to complete your advance healthcare directives. The session will take about two hours. I will provide Advance Health Care Directive and Dementia Directive forms, and guide you and your family members or friends to think about what is important to you and how to document it in your medical directives. This will put you in charge of what happens if you are ever in a situation where you can’t care for yourself.

As the health care industry continues to advance with life-extending treatments, procedures, technology, and medicine, modern people are living longer than preceding generations. In addition to the benefits of having more time to live, there can also be unintended consequences for some patients and their loved ones, including drawn out physical side effects, emotional suffering, and financial burden. Advance Care Directives were developed in response to this, to give patients the power “in advance” to determine what life sustaining treatments and procedures they would like to have (or not have) in the event they are unable to speak for themselves. Even though most of us don’t want to think about being in this position, people are living longer than ever before and it’s epidemic that our bodies are declining and hindering our lifestyle to varying degrees long before we die.

Dementia Directives are relatively new and designed for you to provide (in advance) more nuanced instructions for your healthcare at each stage of dementia, in the event you incur this disease. When completed and signed, this document should be attached as an addendum to your Advanced Health Care Directive.

At the end of this session, you will have a signed Advance Health Care Directive and Dementia Directive to keep on file with your doctors and family so they know your wishes.   

It’s never too early to put your health care wishes down in writing. In fact, I recommend it to anyone who is 18 years or older.  As long as you are “sound of mind,” you can change these instructions as often as you like.  

If you already have an Advance Health Care Directive (medical directive) on file, be sure to periodically review and update it. It’s quite common for people to change their values overtime due to a lot of personal and external influences.