Advanced Care Planning
MAKE YOUR CHOICES CLEAR:
Advance Directives & You
We make plans for many things over the course of our life. One of the more difficult things to think about and plan for is our future medical care, especially the kind of care we would want at the end of our life. As difficult as it may seem, it is one of the most important health care decisions you will make.
First, think about the following questions about yourself: Do you have any significant health problems now? What kind of things brings you such joy that, should a health problem prevent you from doing them anymore, life would have little meaning? What short or long-term goals do you have? How might medical treatment help you or hinder you in realizing these goals? What would it mean for you to live well even if your health failed? How would health decisions be made if you could not make them?
One of the most vital things you should consider is who would make medical decisions for you if you could not make them for yourself. If you were unconscious or just too ill to communicate your wishes, whom would you want to speak to the doctor for you? In Indiana this person is called your Health Care Representative, and he/she would have the authority to consent to treatment or refuse treatment based on what he/she knows about your wishes. The person you appoint should be someone that you trust to carry out your wishes and who would hold up well under stressful situations. This person cannot be a witness to the signing of that document. Please be sure to talk to your health care representative about the kind of health care you wish to receive.
Under Indiana law you also have the right to refuse life-prolonging treatments such as CPR, mechanical ventilator (breathing machine), and “artificial nutrition and hydration” (food and water supplied to you mechanically through IV’s and tubes). One of the ways you can make your wishes known is through the Living Will Declaration. This form is most helpful should you develop a terminal or incurable disease or injury. Please note that you are asked to indicate one of three choices on the Living Will form regarding artificial nutrition and hydration. Your Living Will must be signed in the presence of two witnesses who are not immediate family. Neither form needs to be notarized.
Since the Living Will does not specifically define “life prolonging treatment” in detail, we have also enclosed an optional Advance Care Planning – Additional Instruction form. This is not a statutory Indiana form like the Living Will Declaration or Appointment of Health Care Representative; but it is one way for you to give more specific instructions to your health care representative about the kind of care you wish or do not wish to receive in certain situations.
After you complete the advance directives, we would also encourage you to make some additional copies. Send one copy to the Medical Records Department of the hospital(s) of your choice. Additional copies may be sent to your physician, as well as close family members or friends. Be sure to keep the originals for yourself.
Finally, put the original forms back in the clear pocket and place them in your kitchen refrigerator-freezer. Why the freezer? Because it is fire proof, most everybody has one, and it will be the place where emergency personnel will look if they are called to your home. When appropriate, you may put a sign on your freezer door saying, Attention Paramedics: Advance Directives Inside.
Carry the Advance Directives card in your wallet at all times.
To obtain and complete forms, please call Dunn Memorial Hospital at
8125.275.3331 or 812.276.1408
Ask for Advance Care Planning Assistant