Learn More About Advance Directives
Fall 2003
While we would like to think that we will always
be healthy and able to make
decisions for ourselves, we never know when a sudden illness or serious medical
condition might unable us to do so. Making your wishes known while you are
still healthy is a good idea. Your family and loved ones will benefit from
advance planning. It will help relieve them of the uncertainty and burden of
making medical decisions for you by knowing your wishes in advance.
Your Advance Medical Directive
An advance medical directive is a written or spoken statement about your future
medical care. The advance medical directive lets your doctor, family, and
friends know how you want to be treated if you become seriously ill and cannot
tell them. Planning in advance for health care decisions is the best way
to make sure your voice is heard and your wishes are respected.
Your advance medical directive should include:
- Medical treatments that you approve
- The person you want to make health care
decisions for you when you are unable to make
those decisions
- Ethical, religious, and spiritual instructions
- Anything about the end of your life that
you want your loved ones and your health care
providers to know
Benefits of Advance Medical Directives
- They help others know what to do
- Your written advance medical directive is
a benefit to your family members and friends
- By documenting your wishes, others won’t
have to guess what you want if you can no longer
speak for yourself
- An advance medical directive is the best
means to ensure that your wishes are honored
Please contact the Center for Bloodless Medicine & Surgery
at
1-800-789-PENN (7366) to complete your advance
medical directive.
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