Advance Directives Information
Your healthcare provider can tell you how to get more information, or you can contact patient services.
336-718-2005
Q: What are advance directives?
A: Advance directives are documents that are prepared in case you become seriously ill and are unable to make decisions regarding your healthcare. These documents allow you to name someone to make those decisions for you. Advance directives may include a living will and health care power of attorney, which will enable you make legally suitable decisions about your future medical treatment.
Q: What is a living will?
A: A living will is a document in which you designate the type of prolonging medical care you wish to receive or not receive if you are unable to make your own decisions due to becoming terminally ill, permanently unconscious or in a vegetative state. This document should be discussed and shared with your physician, family and clergy. You may also ask your physician to make the living will part of your medical records, including hospital charts.
Q: What is a health care power of attorney?
A: A health care power of attorney is a signed, dated and witnessed document which designates another person to make medical decisions for you if you are unable to make them for yourself at anytime, not just at the end of life. This document allows you to indicate treatment you want or do not want, such as surgery or artificial nutrition and hydration.
Q: How can I know beforehand which procedures I would want or not want to prolong my life?
A: As you know, it is not possible to specify every procedure under each circumstance, but it is possible to decide what kind of treatment you would want in most situations. There are certain common conditions (terminal and dementing illnesses and permanent brain damage) and treatments used in end-of-life situations (CPR, ventilators, artificial nutrition and hydration, dialysis and antibiotics) that can be discussed in advance. If you have questions about the procedures commonly used for severe illness when recovery is unlikely, talk to your physician.
It is important that you explain your preferences with your family, friends and others who may take part in assisting with your health care needs. Some things to discuss with these individuals include your views about:
Death
Being totally dependent on the care of others
Family finances
Conditions that would make life unbearable to you
How artificial life-support would affect the dying process
Q: If a patient who is in a coma or is mentally incompetent doesnt have advance directives, who makes the decision to stop treatment?
A: If the patient does not have advance directives, the decision is left to the patient's family, physician and hospital. If an agreement cannot be reached, the case will then go to court and a judge will make the decision, often with help from the hospital's ethics committee. The person who has the authority to make the decisions when there are no advance directives may not be the person the patient would have chosen.
Q: What will the hospital do if I or my family is ever in a situation where there are no advance directives?
A: Forsyth Medical Center has an Ethics Committee, which can help you get all the facts you need to make a decision, as well as offer feedback and suggestions.
Physicians, nurses, social workers, lawyers, clergy and patient representatives can discuss the issues and advise on hospital policy if there's a lack of clarity. The final decision is still up to the patient, family and physician.
