Health Care Directive is a Living Will and Health Care Agent
Next on my list after knocking down the Will was to appoint people for my care in the event I am incapacitated and not able to make health care decisions for myself. I read articles online and found some comments that I thought reflected my opinion of how I would like to be treated under those circumstances. Forms can be found online for the state of Minnesota or from your doctor.
The following comments are only provided as an example of what you can include in your Minnesota Health Care Directive:
If I had a reasonable chance of recovery, and were temporarily unable to decide or speak for myself, I would want:
I want my Health Care Agent to decide on my care.
If I were dying and unable to decide for myself, I would want:
I want my Health Care Agent to decide on my care.
If I were permanently unconscious and unable to decide or speak for myself, I would want:
I want my Health Care Agent to decide on my care.
Feeding tube-long-term use of the feeding tube frequently is given to people with irreversible and end-stage conditions. Often, the treatment will not reverse the course of the disease/condition itself or improve the quality of life. I agree you may withdraw the feeding tube under these conditions.
CPR-The success rate is extremely low for people who are at the end of a terminal disease/condition process. Critically ill patients who receive CPR have a small chance of recovering and leaving the hospital. I do not wish to receive CPR under these conditions and my doctor must write a separate do-not-resuscitate order on my chart. I agree to this under these conditions.
Ventilation-For the dying patient, mechanical ventilation often merely prolongs the dying process until some other body system fails. It may supply oxygen, but it cannot improve the underlying condition. I agree I do not want mechanical ventilation if I would never regain the ability to breathe on my own.
I agree with this statement: It is legally and ethically appropriate to discontinue medical treatments that no longer are beneficial. It is the underlying disease/condition, not the act of withdrawing treatment that causes death.
Pain Management- A plan to manage pain is a plan to manage the disease/condition. I agree that my doctors/caregivers provide me the medication they deem necessary to live comfortably with no pain.
I agree with this statement: It is important to recognize that the disease/condition is causing death, not the medications and procedures used to control pain. Pain management is provided simply to keep me (the dying person) comfortable.
As you can see, there are many ways to answer these questions and without a Living Will as part of your Minnesota Health Care Directive others will have to guess as to how you would like to be treated.
Assigning the responsibility to make these decisions for you when you cannot is done by assigning the responsibility to someone to make these decisions for you, your Health Care Agent. After discussing it with family members my spouse is first in line and the backup is one of our children located in town. This way I have covered myself and under a worse case scenario where my spouse and I were say badly hurt in an accident together, our adult child can make decisions for us.
Action Step: Start taking steps now by talking with your doctor, clergy and advisors for counsel to fill this form out. You can always replace it down the line with an updated one if you change your mind on your care or your agent. Don’t leave others with the hard decisions without your input. It will be too late when you are in a state of permanently unconscious without your directions.
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