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.
Once you have talked with your doctor and have an idea of the types of decisions that could come up in the future and whom you would like as a proxy, if you want one at all, the next step is to fill out the legal forms detailing your wishes. A lawyer can help but is not required. If you decide to use a lawyer, don't depend on him or her to help you understand different medical treatments. Start the planning process by talking with your doctor.
Many states have their own advance directive forms. Your local Area Agency on Aging can help you locate the right forms. Also, talk to your health care agent, family and friends about changes you have made.
In some states, advance health care planning includes a document called physician orders for life-sustaining treatment POLST. This form does not replace your other directives. Instead, it serves as doctor-ordered instructions — not unlike a prescription — to ensure that, in case of an emergency, you receive the treatment you prefer.
Your doctor will fill out the form based on the contents of your advance directives, the discussions you have with your doctor about the likely course of your illness and your treatment preferences. If you are in a hospital or nursing home, the document is posted near your bed. If you are living at home or in a hospice care facility, the document is prominently displayed where emergency personnel or other medical team members can easily find it.
Forms vary by state, but essentially a POLST enables your doctor to include details about what treatments not to use, under what conditions certain treatments can be used, how long treatments may be used and when treatments should be withdrawn. A POLST also indicates what advance directives you have created and who serves as your health care agent.
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Health Communications Publications. With an advance directive, individuals have the power to make future decisions about their own critical care without outside influence. A person who wishes or does not wish to be placed on life support can create an advance directive that hospital staff will follow should the person become incapacitated. The document instructs whether dialysis, breathing machines or tube feeding are desired, whether to resuscitate and whether to donate organs and tissue at the end of one's life.
Planning ahead provides the medical care a person desires and avoids unnecessary suffering, disagreements and decision-making burdens during times of crisis.
Two physicians must certify the person is terminally ill , seriously injured, in a coma, in the late stages of dementia or permanently unconscious and unable to make medical decisions before the living will is enacted.
An advance directive becomes legally valid in the United States after signing in front of a witness. However, emergency medical technicians cannot honor a living will; they must do everything in their power to stabilize a person for transfer to a hospital. Completing a new living will invalidates the old one. A person appointed as medical power of attorney must be willing to ask challenging questions and needs to put aside emotions about a medical procedure or option to ensure the incapacitated person's end-of-life wishes are fulfilled.
A durable power of attorney allows an appointed person to act as a person's agent and make financial decisions on the person's behalf in case of an incapacitating medical condition. The durable power of attorney makes bank transactions, signs Social Security checks, applies for disability and writes checks to cover bills. Different people may be designated to act on the person's behalf for different issues. Estate Planning.
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