Advance Care Planning

Video Credit: Who Will Speak For You? by The Conversation Project

Check out The Conversation Project to learn more about National Healthcare Decisions Day (NHDD) and their mission to inspire, educate and empower the public and providers about the importance of advance care planning.

_________

Having conversations early, when you are healthy, will relieve those closest to you of the burden of having to guess about what you would want in the event that you are unable to speak for yourself.

Sources: Conversation Project National Survey (2013) and Survey of Californians by the California Health Care Foundation (2012).

It is impossible to predict the exact health situation you might be in and what treatments will be available to you at that time. Discussions with those closest to you about your goals and values can help to guide the “in the moment” decisions that may need to be made and will allow you to maintain as much control over your health care as possible.

If you become too sick to make your own health care decisions and have not planned ahead for your medical care, your doctor will need to consult with your family or close friends to learn more about what you would or would not want in certain situations. The best way to guarantee that your wishes are known and honored is to talk to members of your family, close friends and health care providers about your goals and preferences for care and treatment and document them.

Additional Facts You Should Know

• In Vermont, it is not automatically a person’s next of kin (spouse, parent, adult sibling, etc.) who can make decisions if a person is unable to speak for themselves.
• There’s no need to involve a lawyer in creating or revising advance directives. In Vermont, these documents need only be witnessed by two adults and do not have to be notarized.
• If someone’s wishes change, advance directive documents can, and should, be changed.
• Most importantly, for advance directives to be effective, people need to have conversations with their appointed decision-maker and other loved ones about their values and what matters most to them.