Healthy Ending -- August 2001
Texas Medicine
Making Wishes Come True
Most of us don't like to think about dying. But chances are you
will care for a seriously ill parent or spouse or friend sometime
during your life, or you may be seriously ill or injured yourself.
You should know what decisions you can make now that will affect
your care later and what you should do to make sure your wishes are
respected.
Advance Directives
Advance directives allow you to plan now for directing your
medical care when you can no longer communicate your wishes. Three
types of advance directives are discussed.
Directive to Physicians and Family or Surrogates
A Directive to Physicians -- sometimes referred to as a living
will -- is a form that tells doctors, your family or friends, or
someone authorized to make decisions for you whether to withhold or
withdraw treatment if you become seriously ill with no hope of
getting better. If you don't have this directive, doctors may use
machines to keep you alive.
First, you must decide what treatment you will and will not
accept. Second, discuss this with your family, clergy, and/or
friends. Third, complete the form; don't wait until you're sick.
(Anyone 18 years or older can complete a Directive to
Physicians.)
A Directive to Physicians goes into effect
only
when you have a terminal or irreversible illness; it pertains to
health care decisions, not to financial matters; and it can be
changed at
any
time for
any
reason.
Medical Power of Attorney
A Medical Power of Attorney allows you to designate anyone you
wish to make medical decisions for you if you become so ill that
you cannot make decisions for yourself. The document is effective
immediately after it is executed and delivered to the person you
have chosen to act on your behalf. This person, called an "agent,"
may make health care decisions for you only if your attending
physician certifies in writing that you are incompetent.
Like the Directive to Physicians, this document applies to
health care decisions, not to financial matters, and can be changed
at
any
time for
any
reason.
Out-of-Hospital Do-Not Resuscitate Order
This advance directive allows you to refuse specific lifesaving
treatments outside the hospital. A doctor signs the order after you
and he or she discuss your wishes.
The Out-of-Hospital Do-Not-Resuscitate (DNR) Order tells
doctors, nurses, paramedics, or anyone else offering medical care
not to use CPR or any other technique to save your life if you stop
breathing. You must carry your original form or a copy of it with
you at all times, or wear an approved I.D. necklace or bracelet. If
you do not have an Out-of-Hospital DNR Order, health care workers
may have to do everything they can to revive you.
Where to Get the Forms
Directive to Physicians and Family or
Surrogates
- Texas Conference of Catholic Health
Facilities Web site at
chausa.org/STATES/4136_2.ASP
. Or write TCCHF, 1625 Rutherford Lane, Austin, TX 78754, or
call (512) 339-1157.
- Your family physician or attorney
Medical Power of Attorney
- Texas Conference of Catholic Health
FacilitiesWeb site at
chausa.org/STATES/4136_2.ASP
. Or write TCCHF, 1625 Rutherford Lane, Austin, TX 78754, or
call (512) 339-1157.
- Your family physician or attorney
Out-of-Hospital DNR Order
- Texas Department of Health Web site at
www.tdh.state.tx.us/hcqs/ems/dnrhome.htm
- Texas Conference of Catholic Health
Facilities, 1625 Rutherford Lane, Austin, TX 78754; (512)
339-1157
- Texas Medical Association, Attn: DNR
form, 401 W. 15th St., Austin, TX 78701; or (512) 370-1300 for information about prices of the DNR form, necklaces,
or bracelets
- Your family physician or attorney
Talk It Over
These documents are not enough to make sure that all the
decisions about medical care at the end of your life will be
made according to your written wishes. You should talk about
what you want with your doctor and with your family and
friends. Make sure they understand exactly what you want to
happen.
Healthy Ending is a public service of TMA and
Texas Medicine
and is approved by the TMA Council on Public Health. The
information and recommendations appearing here are appropriate
in most instances, but they are not a substitute for medical
diagnosis. For specific information concerning your personal
medical condition,
Texas Medicine
and TMA strongly recommend that you consult your
physician.