Have you thought about what you would like?" "Do you have any special requests at the end of life?" "I'd never want to live on a ventilator like Uncle Chet, would you?" Once the discussion takes place, it's imperative that our wishes are documented in an advance directive, a legal document completed in advance to direct our healthcare if we are unable to speak on our own behalf.
Imagine, for example, a fully competent patient who, in anticipation of developing Alzheimer's disease, espouses a strong conviction, perhaps documented in an advance directive, that she does not wish to have her life prolonged in a demented state.
Choices need to be documented in an advance directive, from the medical (our thoughts about life-prolonging measures) to the personal (how we'd like our lives to be commemorated).
The views and wishes their patients had documented in the advance directives had to be listed.
- In the years 2000 2002 we noticed an increase in the request for sedation in the final days of life from 19% to 34% by the patients themselves, documented in personal statements or advance directives.
Special interest was given to patients' attitudes and frequency of request for sedation in the final phase as documented in the medical records or in advance directives.
More quietly, officials say the administration is in the midst of revising broad intelligence priorities laid out in a directive issued by President Bill Clinton, a document known as PDD 35.
Early this month a document surfaced from archives in Germany that detailed a directive in 1973 to East German border guards to shoot to kill citizens trying to flee to West Germany.
Decide how you wish to be treated if you are unable to speak on your own behalf Discuss your wishes with loved ones in advance Document your wishes in an advance directive.
As an employee of the Archive of Folk Song, Lomax had a directive to document representative samples of folk music in broad regional surveys.
