Health care advance directives have been the primary legal tools to communicate for individuals for over 40 years. Advanced directives are a person’s written commands about his or her future medical care if there is an incident where he or she is unable to make those decisions. Formal advance directives are put in place to ultimately protect the patient’s autonomy and are also referred to a living will or a durable power of attorney for health care (Sabatino, 2010). The living will includes treatments that one wants or does not want like cardiopulmonary resuscitation. A medical power of attorney is someone who will make sure the patient’s wishes are carried out and/or can make decisions about medical care if the patient is unable to.
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It can also be a problem for individuals who have major accidents where they lose decision-making abilities but do not have an advance directive set in place. Conflicts and/or confusion can arise when the patient wants one thing but the family of the individual has something else in mind or does not agree with what is in the patient’s advance directive. Additionally, problems can occur when patients’ preferences simply change due to inadequate knowledge and experience, which can then cause confusion to what they really want (Levi & Green, 2010). There has also been evidence that shows that advance directives are not widely discussed with patients within family doctor offices. Often times physicians believe it should be brought up by the patient where as, the patient believes the physicians should initiate the conversation (Tierney, Dexter, Gramelspacher, Perkins, Zhou, & Wolinsky, 2001). This is why it is important to have prior adequate advance care planning while the patient is healthy, so that health care professionals can use the document in the event that the patient loses decision-making
Advanced …show more content…
It can also be a problem for individuals who have major accidents where they lose decision-making abilities but do not have an advance directive set in place. Conflicts and/or confusion can arise when the patient wants one thing but the family of the individual has something else in mind or does not agree with what is in the patient’s advance directive. Additionally, problems can occur when patients’ preferences simply change due to inadequate knowledge and experience, which can then cause confusion to what they really want (Levi & Green, 2010). There has also been evidence that shows that advance directives are not widely discussed with patients within family doctor offices. Often times physicians believe it should be brought up by the patient where as, the patient believes the physicians should initiate the conversation (Tierney, Dexter, Gramelspacher, Perkins, Zhou, & Wolinsky, 2001). This is why it is important to have prior adequate advance care planning while the patient is healthy, so that health care professionals can use the document in the event that the patient loses decision-making