Healthcare Advance Directives
An advance directive is a written document in which you
state your preferences about healthcare decisions affecting
you in the event you’re unable to speak for yourself.
Examples include Living Wills, Designation of Health
Care Surrogate and Durable Power of Attorney. A Living
Will allows you to state the kind of medical care you
want or do not want, if you are terminally ill and become
unable to make your own decisions. A Health Care Surrogate
is a person whom you designate in an advance directive
to make health care decisions while you’re incapacitated.
A Durable Power of Attorney is a legal document that can
have broad-reaching legal implications. It can deal with
financial as well as health issues. This document should
be executed only in consultation with appropriate legal
counsel. A Proxy is a person chosen by the hospital to
make your health care decisions for you when you become
incapacitated in the absence of an advance directive.
For more information about these important documents,
consult your doctor, social worker, hospital or attorney.
DNR Orders
DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) orders are written instructions
from a physician telling health care providers not to
perform CPR or other procedures to revive a person in
the event of a sudden life-threatening health development
such as a heart attack. Issued with the consent of the
patient or family, they are used for people with terminal
illnesses, or serious or disabling conditions from which
they are not expected to recover, as well as the elderly
or very frail who would suffer from attempts at revival.
