What Are Advance Directives And How Do They Relate To The Dying Process

Advance directives are legal documents that give you the ability to make your wishes and decisions known to those around you concerning your medical care in situations when you are unable to communicate them to family or medical professionals. This avoids any confusion regarding what your decisions are concerning end-of-life care.

Specifically, a living will explains how you feel regarding such issues as the use of dialysis or breathing machines, what to do if your breathing or heartbeat stops – do you wish to be resuscitated? The living will also will let medical staff know if you wish to be fed using a feeding tube or to participate in organ or tissue donation.

One of the legal documents is called a "durable power of attorney". This document names your health care proxy. The proxy is someone that you trust to make health decisions if you are not able to communicate them, yourself.

A well drawn up advance directive will describe the kind of treatment you agree to have if you are unlikely to recover from an illness or hospital admission and are permanently unconscious. Medical personnel will consult the advance directive to make decisions regarding certain medical treatments such as "resuscitation efforts", they also tell what kinds of treatments you do want to have.

Laws governing advance directives differ from state to state in the U.S.A.

Forms of Advance Directives:

Advance directives can take many forms. One form of an advance directive is a living will. A living will is a legal document that describes the medical treatments or treatments that can sustain life that you want if you are seriously ill or are dying or it can list those that you do not wish to have performed on you. A living will cannot select a person to make these decisions for you.

Another form of advance directive is the durable power of attorney (DBA) for health care. This is the document that states who you wish to make medical decisions for your care when you are unable to communicate your wishes yourself. This is only a good option if you actually have someone you trust to make these decisions for you.

Another form of advanced directive is a do not resuscitate (DNR) order. This is when you wish to make known that you do want to receive cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) if you stop breathing or your heart stops. Without this order hospital staff and other trained medical and emergency personnel are to do all they can to save lives and will do the CPR. Your doctor puts the DNR order into your medical chart. All states in the U.S.A. accept DNRs.

Advance directives relate to the dying process because you draw them up at a time when you are healthy for use at a time when you are unable to communicate your desires for what medical treatments you do and do not wish to have performed on you during the end-of-life medical events. They are your voice when your voice is silenced. They are legal documents that speak your wishes and make your decisions known so that there is no confusion or question about what your desires are during a very trying time for family members and other loved ones. Advanced directives takes the pressure off of them at a time when dealing with your medical situation or impending death is emotional enough without having to make major medical decisions.

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