Advance Care Planning
Advance Care Planning is a process of planning for future medical care in case you are unable to make your own decisions. It is a continual process and not merely a document or isolated event. Advance Care Planning assists you in preparing for a sudden unexpected illness from which you expect to recover as well as the dying process, and ultimately death. The Advance Care Planning process usually includes creating the following documents:
- Health Care Proxy and Living Will
- Five Wishes Document
- Ethical Will
Your Advance Care Planning is a gift you can give to yourself and your family since it helps avoid confusion and conflict in a time of crisis. It provides increased control and peace of mind. You make decisions regarding your medical care while you are still able. It is the first step in assuring your wishes will be honored.
Health Care Proxy and Living Will
A Health Care Proxy and Living Will is used to clearly state your wishes and decisions about end of life issues such as artificial nutrition and/or hydration. If there is no Health Care Proxy form or clear and convincing evidence of your wishes, then decisions about your care may be made by the New York State government.Once you have completed a Health Care Proxy and Living Will, it is important to review this instrument each year to determine if there are any changes you need to make. For example, you need to make sure you are still comfortable with who you chose to be your Spokesperson. Also, be sure to review any changes you make to your Health Care Proxy and Living Will with your Spokesperson.
When completing the Health Care Proxy and Living Will, you will be asked to designate a Spokesperson who will represent your wishes if you are unable to speak for yourself. After completing this document, it is important to have a conversation with your Spokesperson about your end-of-life wishes and decisions. Free copies of a Health Care Proxy and Living Will can be obtained from the New York Bar Association.
Artricles for Further Reading:
Dennis, Jane. Living Will is Gift in Midst of Grief, The Interpreter, July/August 2005
Willis, Gerri. Living Wills, 5 Tips: Writing an Effective Living Will, 2005
Five Wishes Document
Along with your Advance Care Planning, you may want to incorporate your Five Wishes. The Five Wishes document, which can be obtained from "Aging with Dignity," helps you express how you want to be treated if you are seriously ill and unable to speak for yourself. It is unique among all other living will and health agent forms because it looks to all of a person‘s needs including medical, personal, emotional, and spiritual.
Ethical Wills
Another way to help your family is through an Ethical Will (www.ethicalwill.com), which provides a great way to pass on your values and life story to your children and family. An Ethical Will is a nonlegal document that typically imparts beliefs, lessons learned in life, and your hopes and wishes for loved ones.
Did you know that Ethical Wills are not new? The tradition of passing on beliefs, blessings, and advice to the next generation can be traced to biblical times. The earliest ethical wills were delivered by fathers seeking to bestow blessings and other prophesies, and also leave burial instructions. In what may be the first such bequest, in the book of Genesis, Jacob gathers his 12 sons before his death to tell stories, predict their futures, and impart some wisdom of his long life.
Click the "Ethical Wills" icon above for more information on Ethical Wills.