Planning Ahead for End-of-Life Care

National Healthcare Decisions (NHCD) Week is April 16-22. It emphasizes the significance of planning for end-of-life care. Advance directives are one of the finest ways to ensure your demands are met. Advance directives come in four flavors not only in Chicago but in the entire state of Illinois.

Health Care Power of Attorney

To make health care decisions for you if you are incapacitated. Your agent can make medical decisions for you if you are unconscious, in a coma, or otherwise unable to make them yourself. The Health Care Power of Attorney empowers your agent to make healthcare decisions on your behalf, including consenting or refusing to medical treatment that could save your life. You must identify someone you can trust to act in your best interests and speak with them (ideally in writing) about your wishes on whether or not you want to accept life-saving treatment.

Agent Selection

Whether you want someone to be your home health care provider, ask them if they are willing to do so. If the person agrees, you should sit down and talk about your thoughts and ideals about health care and the kind of therapy you desire or don’t want. Give your agent copies of your Living Will and other end-of-life paperwork. This can assist calm questions and anxieties during stressful times.

Living Will

In the event that you are unable to communicate your intentions to your home healthcare provider, a living will is used. Unlike a Health Care Power of Attorney, a living will only applies to terminal patients. To establish your own advance directive, you can use an AARP template or build one from yourself. Your agent should be named in your Living Will and have a copy of it.

DNR/POLST

A Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) order instructs medical personnel not to do CPR if your heart or breathing stops. A POLST form establishes a medical order that can be accessible by paramedics, fire departments, police, emergency rooms, hospitals, and skilled healthcare agencies. It specifies what life-sustaining therapies you want and don’t want if you can’t express them. You can create a POLST by talking to your  health care provider.

Preferences for Mental Health Treatment

Finally, if you have a mental disease and can’t articulate your wishes, this document enables you say whether you want ECT or psychotropic drugs.

For more information about Planning Ahead for End-of-Life Care and other home health care services, call or visit essentialhh.org.