LIVINGS WILLS:Making wishes known to family is essential

By CHARLES W. JOHNSON / News Editor for the Southern Standard

NHC Healthcare employee Dianne Wood goes over some documents with local resident Gentry Mathis who attended the facility’s program on living wills.

How one’s health care choices will be handled if one becomes unable to make those decisions for themselves is not an easy subject for most people to discuss, but experts say it’s essential to make those preferences known to family and personal physicians in advance of a medical emergency.

That’s why living wills, advance care plans and physician orders for scope of treatment (POST) documents are becoming more important as modern medical techniques and equipment are capable of sustaining and prolonging life even when a patient is in a vegetative state, something medical facilities are legally required to do if the patient hasn’t signed a document making their preferences known. This situation can be devastating, particularly when a family knows this is not what the individual would have wanted.

The Terry Schiavo case early this year brought this home as the nation watched her husband wage a protracted legal battle to provide his wife the right to die. Many times during this ordeal legal experts pointed out that if Schiavo had made her wishes known.

That’s why NHC Healthcare recently presented a program to inform local residents on how to prepare these types of documents, even providing the documents and helping attendees fill them out.

NHC administrator Tim Wrather talked about how easy it is to put such decisions off.

“You know, we plan every trip we ever take,” Wrather said. “But when we get down to the most important trip we’ll ever take we don’t plan it much, at least some folks don’t.”

Wrather said there are three important documents that everyone should consider filling out:

Appointment of Health Care Agent – This document assigns someone to make medical decisions if the patient becomes unable to do so. It is suggested that two persons be chosen, a main agent and an alternate should the main choice be unable or unwilling to take the responsibility. It was also suggested this person not be a beneficiary of the patient’s estate.

Advanced Care Plan – This document allows a patient to decide in advance how far they wish the medical establishment to go to prolong their lives. It deals with whether or not to use cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to restart the patient’s heart, and life support options such as breathing machines, feeding tubes and IV fluids. This document also allows a patient to express what they consider an acceptable quality of life.

Physician Orders for Scope of Treatment (POST) – this document allows a patient to communicate the extent of medical intervention allowed in the event of a severe medical trauma. A patient can indicate whether or not they are to be resuscitated and treated even if it is obvious the injuries will result in a vegetative state and leave the patient on life support.

These documents are available from several sources, including one’s family physician and most medical facilities, many of which provide one or more for patients to fill out upon admission.

Once the documents have been completed, it is suggested that an individual make several copies and take the following actions:

Provide a copy to their physician or physicians.

Keep a copy in their personal files where it is accessible to others.

Tell their closest relatives and friends what is in the documents.

Provide a copy to the person or persons they named as their health care agent.

NHC activity director Fay Braxton talked about the importance of filling out these types of documents and talking to family about medical decisions.

“It’s very important because it helps the family to be able to carry out the patient’s wishes,” said Wood. “It helps them deal with it a lot easier to know that they did what that family member wanted carried out. Rather than it being their decision it’s the patient’s decision.”

Braxton said it’s important to take care of these issues early on since older patients may not be able to make these types of decisions later.

“Once patients come to health care it’s hard to deal with,” Braxton said. “This is just our way of providing a service to the community. We want to educate the public. The more information we can get out there to the public, the better.”

Braxton said the facility will be scheduling other such programs. The programs will be open to the general public and not just relatives of NHC patients.

“We’ll be doing this quarterly,” Braxton said. “Different topics every quarter. We encourage any and all to come.”

Future subjects will include Alzheimer’s, the new Medicaid part B prescription program, diabetes and other health care issues.