By communicating your wishes about end-of-life care to loved ones, you can help relieve stress when the time comes for them to make decisions regarding your health care. Studies have found that one-third of people who are forced to make treatment decisions are negatively impacted. The most common emotional effects include guilt and stress regarding whether the individual made the right decision. If making preferences known is so beneficial, why do only one third of Americans have some form of advance directive? There are many possible reasons, including the fact that most of the documents are too difficult for many Americans to understand. States are beginning to realize the shortfall and are undergoing reforms regarding end-of-life planning. For example, many states are working on Polst programs, which I recently blogged about.
See Laura Landro, A Push for Better End-of-Life Planning, W.S.J., Mar. 15, 2011.
Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (WealthCounsel) for bringing this to my attention.
