Advance Directives (Health Care) « Health Care – General

Advance Directives

Compliance with Advance Directives: Wrongful Living and Tort Law Incentives (SSRN)
Modern ethical and legal norms generally require that deference be accorded to patients' decisions regarding treatment, including decisions to refuse life-sustaining care, even when patients no longer have the capacity to communicate those decisions to their physicians.
Health Care Advance Directives (video)
Do you know who will speak for you if you become ill or injured and unable to speak for yourself? Watch this short video about why your planning decisions matter.
Many Surgeons Don't Discuss End-of-Life Care (Reuters – 12/16/11)
Many U.S. surgeons fail to discuss their patients' wishes in case a risky operation goes awry, and even more would not operate if patients limited what could be done to keep them alive, a survey found. Such medical wishes and plans for end-of-life care, called "advance directives," outline what can and cannot be done if patients are unable to decide for themselves. The most famous examples are so-called living wills. But the restrictions are debated among doctors, said the survey, published in the Annals of Surgery.
Michigan May Join "Red Light" States that Prohibit Stopping Life-Sustaining Treatments without Consent (10/1/2017)
Michigan state Senator John Proos introduced a bill that would make Michigan the latest in a growing list of states that prohibit clinicians from stopping one or all forms of life-sustaining treatment without consent.

Advance Directives Related to use of Palliative Care, Lower Medicare End-of-Life Spending in Many U.S. Regions (U of M Institute of Social Research – 10/4/11)
People who had completed advance directives stating their preferences for care were less likely to die in a hospital and more likely to receive palliative hospice care than similar decedents without advance directives. “Advance directives may help patients get the care they want if they prefer less aggressive care at the end of life, while also providing cost savings to the Medicare program, particularly in higher-spending regions of the country,” said Lauren Hersch Nicholas, a U-M health economist who is the lead author of the study.
Consumer's Tool Kit for Health Care Advance Planning – 2nd Edition (ABA Commission on Law and Aging)
If you are looking at this tool kit, you are either thinking of making a health care advance directive (such as a living will or durable power of attorney for health care), or you may have already signed one. In either case, you should be aware that just having a written advance directive by itself does not ensure that your wishes will be understood and respected. Studies have shown that standard advance directive forms do little to influence end-of-life decisions without: 1) informed, thoughtful reflection about your wishes and values, and 2) personal communication between you and your likely decision-makers before a crisis occurs.

Health Decisions (American Bar Association)
The ABA Commission on Law and Aging has published a new booklet offering a simple durable power of attorney for health care, designed to meet the legal requirements in nearly all states.
National Healthcare Decisions Day (website)
Exists to inspire, educate & empower the public & providers about the importance of advance care planning; an initiative to encourage patients to express their wishes regarding healthcare and for providers and facilities to respect those wishes, whatever they may be.
Giving Someone a Power of Attorney for your Healthcare – A Guide with an Easy-to-Use, Legal Form for All Adults
The form in this guide is a simple version of a Health Care Advance Directive. It allows you to choose someone to make health care decisions for you if you can’t. If you name a health care agent when you are healthy, you will make sure that someone you trust can make health care decisions for you if you become too ill or injured to make them yourself.