Today is National Healthcare Decisions Day
The following excerpt from Pauline M. Chen, M.D., Making Your Wishes Known at the End of Life, NY Times, April 15, 2010, should encourage readers to execute an advance directive:
Researchers at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor combed through the records of over 4,000 individuals over age 60 and found that almost a third of these patients would eventually become too incapacitated to make the necessary decisions regarding medical treatment at the end of life. But among them, nearly all of those with a living will requesting limited or comfort care only ultimately did receive such care at the end of their lives. And those patients who specified all care possible were far more likely to receive aggressive care than those who did not request it.
Those seeking more on how to document health care desires can visit the National Healthcare Decisions Day website, which contains a helpful resource page. Of note is the list of links to state specific information.
Special thanks to Matt Bogin for bringing this to my attention.