Throughout the month of April, MHA is
re-doubling its effort to bring attention to the importance of advance
healthcare planning – that is, the process you want your loved
ones and caregivers to help you carry out if you become seriously
ill.
If you
have a plan in place, arrived at after conversations with those close to
you, it will ensure that your family will not be burdened with making
tough decisions on your behalf if you become seriously ill, and that
your wishes will be carried out. Having a plan in place can also avoid
disputes between family members who may have differing ideas about the
care you should, or should not, receive. And avoiding those disputes,
which often occur in care settings, assists the caregivers at your
bedside as well, who will be able to provide the care you wish free of
conflict.
Does your personal physician know how you want to be
treated if you are seriously ill? Does anybody close to you know? Do you
have your wishes outlined in writing?
National Healthcare Decision Week this year
occurs from April 16 to 22. The decision week is an initiative of The
Conversation Project, working collaboratively with the Institute for
Healthcare Improvement. This month, MHA will educate its staff, its
surrounding community, and its membership on the importance of advance
healthcare planning. Information about such planning will be outlined in
weekly Monday Report stories throughout April.
This week, after surveying its
staff, MHA is providing all of its employees with a “Getting
Started Tool Kit” from Honoring Choices Massachusetts. MHA is also
reaching out to its neighbors in “The District” – the
Burlington, Mass. executive park where our offices are located, to
provide them with information about advance care planning and access to
the Honoring Choices Getting Started Tool Kit. That toolkit allows any
competent adult over the age of 18 to:
• Choose
a healthcare agent in a healthcare proxy;
• Write
down their choices for care in a personal directive;
• And
learn how to talk to their care providers to align their care to their
choices.
So
where to get started? First, choose a healthcare agent – someone
who knows and can convey your care wishes – in a healthcare proxy,
which is a legally binding document. Be aware that under Massachusetts
law, a spouse or family member does not automatically have the legal
authority to make decisions unless appointed in a healthcare
proxy. You do not need an attorney to appoint a healthcare
agent; you can do it yourself by filling out the proxy form in the
toolkit and having it witnessed and signed by two adults. In the proxy
you can outline the extent of the authority you are giving your
agent.
Once
appointed, what is your agent supposed to do? How does that agent know
what you want? This is where the personal directive comes in. A personal
directive is not a legally binding document but it does lay out in
detail specific information about your wishes and instructions about the
kind of care you want. You can discuss your values, religious and
cultural beliefs, and your choices in a personal
directive.
The healthcare proxy and the personal directive
“work hand-in-hand,” according to the Honoring Choices tool
kit. “You appoint an agent in a health care proxy with the legal
power to make healthcare decisions on your behalf, and give your agent
essential information and instructions about the care you want in a
personal directive.”
Finally, the toolkit provides a discussion guide to help
you talk to your care providers about your wishes, concerns about your
current or future care, and about how to get information about your
healthcare agent and your personal choices entered into your medical
record. It’s important to outline your information and to have it
accessible in the event you can’t speak for yourself due to an
emergency or illness.
There are a lot of moving parts to advance care planning
and a lot of different overlapping terms. But much of the information
available to the public is clearly written, with easy-to-follow
steps. While the decision to begin a conversation about
serious illness and end-of-life care is almost always a difficult one to
make, avoiding such a conversation now may make things more difficult
for you, your loved ones, and your healthcare providers further along in
your life.
For more information, visit PatientCareLink and click on
“Healthcare Planning Throughout Your Life” under the For
Patients & Families Tab, or “Serious Illness Care” under
Improving Patient Care.