Health Care Proxies, Advanced Health Care Directives, And Living Wills
Any competent adult has the right to accept and/or refuse any medical treatment. Nobody disputes that. Doctors are only allowed to tell patients the pros and cons of treatment, they can offer advice, they can not order a patient to accept treatment. Problems start when the adult can no longer communicate or is no longer considered mentally competent enough to make their own decisions. When this happens other people step in and try to decide what type of medical treatment the person would want for themselves.
Most of us like to believe that we will live long full lives and always be in complete control of our fate; sadly this is not always the case. People are injured in car accidents; freak falls, and have brains that are slipping further and further into oblivion as a direct result of mental illness. When this happens we loose control over the medical treatment that we always took for granted. You don't have to loose control.
Health care proxies, advanced health care directives, and living wills are documents that are drafted before a patient looses their mental competency that clearly state what type of medical treatment the patient will accept in a given situation and what type of treatment they wont accept.
Doctors are required to work within the boundaries of advanced health care directives, living wills, and health care proxies.
An advanced health care directive is a document that is signed when the person is competent stating their health care desires.
One type of advanced health care directive people like to use is durable power of attorney for health care. A person with durable power of attorney is a person that has been named by the patient as having the right to make all medical decisions. This person is called a patient advocate. Any mentally competent person over the age of eighteen can be given power of attorney. Before you name someone as your patient advocate make sure they are comfortable with the responsibility they are being given. Make sure that they have a very firm understanding of your medical wishes and desires. A patient advocate can be a friend, spouse, family member, life partner, or lawyer; they should be someone that you can literally trust with your life. If you do not name a person as your patient advocate the responsibility will automatically go to your closest family member. A patient advocate can only act if you are unable to communicate for yourself.
A second popular type of advanced health care directive is a living will medical. A living will is a document where you state you health care wishes in writing. Living wills do not name a patient advocate.
Some people choose to combine living wills with durable power of attorney.
If you choose to write a living will you need to decide if you are willing to be hooked up to ventilators, if you want to be resuscitated if your heart stops, if you want life prolonging drugs, are there any types of surgeries you do not want to have performed on your body, if you are in a coma do you want to have a feeding tube inserted.
If you are in a coma and the doctors feel that you will never wake up do you want them to take any steps that will keep your body alive?
Living wills are where most people list the times they want to be resuscitated and the times they don't want to be resuscitated.
If you have a living will you should keep it somewhere safe that it can be easily found in a medical emergency. Some people keep them in their wallets or purses and others choose to register them in a national database.
Jeff Moore writes articles for http://www.somelivingwill.com and http://www.the-camera-shop.com
|
|
 |
 |
Mens Herbal Health Care – Health Enhancement Supplements
Over recent years, mens herbal health care has become big business. Men are now just as keen as women to enhance life with supplements, vitamin tablets, and various supplements that can aid good health and well being.
Sleep-At-Night Coverage With A Private Health Insurance ( Affordable Health Insurance )
Health Insurance: a sense of dissatisfactionThe three C's, customization, consumerization and customer-satisfaction, seem to be at the core of the business mantra for every service provider. The health insurance provider industry is no exception to this rule.
Florida Health Insurance Web Advises Insurance Consultant for Individual Health Policies
Prices of health insurance are at record high levels while actual benefits are getting smaller. Florida Health Insurance web advices use of professional insurance consultants to avoid over-inflated rates on individual health insurance policies.
Affordable Student Health Insurance - Why Student Health Insurance Can Be Cheap
Student health insurance can be affordable, and even cheap, if you choose a plan that offers the exact coverage your student needs, and if you understand the coverage your student has. By choosing the coverage your student needs, you won?t have to worry about paying for any medical costs that you know your student will acquire. And, by making sure you thoroughly understand your student?s coverage, you won?t be hit with any surprise costs along the way.
Doctor-led Health Care Organization Offers Free Web site, Membership to Mental Health Counselors
The International Assoc. of Dental and Medical Disciplines has a health care plan that brings together all medical disciplines and calls for them to work together to provide the best possible whole-body care.
Health Insurance, Health Care Issues Now Top Rated Topics for Radio Listeners According to Arbitron
The Health Insurance Advocate Show, With Cary Hall, Achieves One Year Ratings Increase of 119 Percent in Western Missouri, Eastern Kansas Market and 576 Percent in Wichita, Kansas, Market By Delivering Clarity and Eliminating Confusion
How To Choose A Major Medical Plan As Affordable Health Care Insurance
We have to pay for many things. For example ? as if you need one ? we pay for food, we pay for clothing, and we pay for transportation. Sure, we could grow our own food on farms, sew our own clothes from sheep, and get to where we?re going by walking ? in theory. But when it comes down to it, we can?t do these things because we don?t have the skills, training, resources, or education to do them. Or, in the case of walking, we just don?t want to.
Florida Health Insurance Highlights 2008 Presidential Health Care Plans
FloridaHealthInsuranceWeb.com, a health insurance consultant service, has published a non-partisan report of each of presidential candidates positions on healthcare. 'The upcoming elections will impact Florida's health care system' said consultant Morgan Moran in a phone interview, 'it's up to you as Florida residents to turn out January 29 and choose which candidate delivers the best insurance plan'.
Affordable Student Health Insurance - How To Get Student Health Insurance Cheap
Are you one of the many college or university students who plan to travel and study abroad during an upcoming semester? If so, you need to consider purchasing overseas student health insurance. Overseas student health insurance can be affordable and cheap, especially when compared to medical costs you would have to pay out of your own pocket if you were to get sick or injured while studying in another country.
World Health Care Congress Launches ReformPlans.com to Encourage and Focus Health Care Reform Discussion
The World Health Care Congress today announced the launch of ReformPlans.com (www.reformplans.com), an innovative and comprehensive web site that brings the real issues in health care reform to a broader audience.
Finding Affordable Family Health Care Insurance
Searching for affordable family health insurance can be a long drawn out affair. Most agents normally represent a few of their most popular companies and market their products.
Affordable Health Insurance Unemployed - Health Insurance Options for the Unemployed
Being in between jobs and unemployed can bring in many financial problems to your doorstep You might need to depend on someone else to help you with covering your day to day expenses
Texas Health Insurance ý Managed Care Health Plans
Managed care health plans work as a network or group of medical professionals and hospitals that are contracted with the health plan This helps insurance companies and health care providers work together to give patients the care they need
Individual Health Insurance vs. Group Health Insurance
Individual health insurance is very different from group health insurance in some respects. Many people have had group health insurance from a large corporate group plan and that is all that they have ever known. Many have never had to actually pick and choose between different insurance companies and different health plans as all of the decision making was done on their behalf by their employer. Here are a few quick things to keep in minding when searching for individual health insurance.
Affordable Health Insurance - Three Tips For Making Health Insurance More Affordable
Finding affordable health insurance can be a challenge these days because the costs have skyrocketed over the past decade. Many small businesses that used to offer group health insurance to their employess have now been forced to stop simply because the costs are just too high. This doesn't leave their employees much of an option other than buying health insurance in the private sector. Here are a few ideas that may help you find affordable health insurance coverage.
|
 |
|
