...Advance Directives are our wishes when we are at end of life stages of life that give specific direction of how, who, and when to treat us in our final days and hours. We can have documents drawn up to say what we want in the event we are in a state where we cannot voice our wishes aloud. These documents have legal and ethical basis, and they should be followed unless the legally or ethically unable to do so. Advance Directives gives a documented guide to the care giver’s or family member’s, so that they all can provide the kind of care that the medically impaired patient wants. This covers a wide variety of medical treatments such as dialisis, ventilators, feeding tubes and organ and or tissue transplants. If a patient has kidney failure they might or might not want to be on dialysis. The advance directive would spell out whether the patient would want such treatment if he or she was not able to convey this to the medical personnel. If the patient was at the end of life and did not want to be kept alive via artificial means such as a ventilator of feeding tube, the advance directive would have the patients wants of this type of treatment also. If the patient passed away and wanted his or her organs donated, then this directed would defanitely give the right to have their organs harvested and donated to someone in need. Even though there might be an advanced directed for a patient that is not able to express their wishes to their family or care givers, there can still...
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...someone with assistance from another person usually in regard to someone suffering from a severe physical illness. It is referred to as a “physician assisted suicide” when a physician provides a competent, terminally ill patient with prescription for a lethal dose of medication upon the patient’s request. Physician assisted suicide is often confused with euthanasia. Do Not Resuscitate or “DNR” and Living Wills are legal orders that represent the wishes of a patient. A DNR states that the patient does not wish to undergo extra measures if their heart were to stop or if they were to stop breathing. A living will is also referred to as an advance health care directive, personal directive, advance directive, or advance decision. It is a set of written instructions that a person gives that specify what actions should be taken for their health, if they are no longer able to make decisions due to illness or incapacity. A DNR, Living Wills and various medical proxy documentations are legal when it comes to medical treatment decisions and the end of life. Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide are prohibited in most countries worldwide. Belgium, Luxembourg, and The Netherlands appear to be the only countries where both euthanasia and physician assisted suicide have been made legal, but only beginning in 2001-2008. There are only four states in the U.S. (Oregon, Vermont, Montana and Washington) where physician assisted suicide is legal. My belief is that terminally ill people...
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...In today’s society it is very important when someone becomes ill or if something tragic happens to have an advanced directive for healthcare prepared to help their family make an ultimate decision regarding their life and health. “Advanced directives limit the type and amount of medical care and treatment that patients will receive if they should become incompetent and have a poor prognosis.” (Fremgen 313) With having an advanced directive it helps communicates a person’s wishes about making decisions if they become incapable of making their own health care decisions; which also makes it easier for family members to have everything planned out. Many make a decision and only tell their family what they want without having it in writing, but its best to have everything in writing for a smoother process. There are two important types of advance directives; a power of attorney or a living will. A durable power of attorney for healthcare “is a legal document that empowers another person (proxy) to make healthcare decisions for an incompetent patient. It goes into effect after the person becomes incompetent and only pertains to healthcare decisions”. (Fremgen 102) The power of attorney becomes effective when someone becomes incapable of making their own health care decisions. Medical power of attorneys covers a great amount of healthcare decisions based on the patient wishes. The power of attorney is capable of reviewing the patients’ medical records, discussing and questions to...
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...(PSDA) is a Federal law that requires nursing homes, hospitals, home health agencies and HMO’s to provide information on advance directives at the time of admission. Under this law, health care institutions are required to provide a written summary of a person’s decision-making rights, which vary from state to state and provide in writing, the facility’s policies with respect to recognizing these advance directives (AmericanBar.org). The PSDA also requires health care institutions to ask the patient if he/she already has an advance directive and document it in the patient’s medical record. Health care institutions are also required to educate their staff about advance directives and not be discriminative against whether the patient does or does not have an advance directive. Advance directive is a legal document in which patients provide instructions on how they are to be treated in the event of becoming very ill with little to no hope for recovery (Green, M., & Bowie, M., 2005). A patient’s health care directive serves some of the purposes as a living will, but also encompasses others, as well. Since it is impossible to foresee every circumstance regarding a person’s health, a health care medical power of attorney is also needed to place someone in authority to weigh all medical facts and circumstances and carry out the patient’s wishes accordingly (AmericanBar.org). A health care advance directive combines the living will and medical power of attorney into...
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...talk to your doctor to make sure they are aware that you have a living will and discuss the details of the documents with them. * Why do we need an advance directive? Physicians used to subjectively decide for the patient, and the patient did not have autonomy, such as CPR for cardiac arrest. Now this decision making has shifted to the patient. * The Patient Self-Determination Act is a federal law that applies to all healthcare institution receiving Medicaid funds. This law requires those institutions to provide information about advance directives to adult patients upon their admission to the healthcare facility. Most family members, having not been in an ICU before, are not prepared to make decisions. Physicians have a sense of whether the patient in the ICU is going to live or die. Typically the family will prolong life until the physician tells them that they don’t think the patient will survive. (Navasky & O’Conner, 2010). * A living will can make your preferences known regarding end of life care. These situations can come up at any age. All adults should have an advance directive, which should be clearly written and witnessed. (Sabatino, 2007). * A durable power of attorney is not the same as authorizing someone to take care of finances. It is a legal document that allows another individual, your health care proxy, to make medical decisions for you if you are incapacitated. * This document goes into effect after the patient become incapacitated...
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...The Purpose of a Living Will What is a Living Will? A Living Will can also be described as an Advance Directive in medical terminology. You will often hear Advance Directive in the health care setting. A Living Will is an “end-of-life” document that states your preferences for your care. This document has the ability to speak and make clear of things when you are not able to speak of it yourself. According to Rebecca Berlin, it’s a legal document that states “his or her wishes regarding life prolonging medical treatments” (Berlin, 2014, para. 1). Often times, individuals that have Living Wills went through a process of finding an attorney to prepare their documents. A Living Will is an area of estate planning. What are included in the estate planning package is the Living Will and a health care “Power of Attorney (POA)” (para. 2). A POA is also known as an individual who is the trusted advocate to be their voice when they are not able to speak for themselves. This is good to have in situations of not those who are terminally ill. Berlin states that “a Living Will describes certain life prolonging treatments. In brief words, it is what an individual wants and does not want to be applied in their terminal illnesses or permanent vegetative states (para. 3). Of course, these decisions stated in the Living Will are not in effect until an individual is unable to say for your treatment. Recommendations for ones dying and their loved ones It is not meant to be another person’s...
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...This course started with the end in mind and the future of health care. Life should begin by thinking of what you want your end to be. Children are taught about how life begins. With those teachings perhaps at a certain age young people should also have the talk about end of life decisions so that it is a process step wise as the go through life and start their own families. Explaining that “advance directives are simple tools that are morally neutral “but allow your voice to be heard at end of life is an empirical step to acceptance to this change in health care (Bustos, 2013, p. 244). This change would protect the family from dealing with legal issues amongst those in the family with objections to how plans are being carried out. The...
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...Part I:Describe the three advance directives available for patients. When are they appropriate? How is an advanced directive put into place? Part II:What is a "Patient's Bill of Rights"? After reading “A Patient's Bill of Rights” on p. 101 of your text, describe what responsibilities physicians and other healthcare providers have in reporting suspected abuse. Should physicians have the right to select the patients they wish to treat? Why or why not? In one to two paragraphs, summarize the laws. 2. Share your opinion of whether or not it would ever be ethical to override an advance directive. Be sure to consider advance directives laws and The Patient Bill of Rights. The advanced directives law in Ohio includes the Living Will, Power of Attorney, and a DNR order. A living will is a document expressing the wishes of the owner in the case that they cannot make decisions for themselves. It decides medical decisions involving certain medical treatment and surgeries related to the patient. A power of attorney is the reliable person that the patient would chose to make their medical decisions in the case that they were medically unable to. This would only come into play if the patient is ill and cannot make medical decisions on their own. Otherwise the patient would still make their own decisions. A DNR order, do not resuscitate, is used when a patient wishes to not be resuscitated in the event that it is needed. This order must be signed by two witnesses and a physician in...
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...Keeshia Whiteside Advance Directives and Living Wills Health care advance directives are legal documents that communicate a person's wishes about health care decisions in the event the person becomes incapable of making health care decisions. There are two basic kinds of advance directives: living wills and durable powers of attorney for health care. * A living will expresses, in advance, a person's instructions or preferences about future medical treatments, particularly end-of-life care, in the event the person loses capacity to make health care decisions. * A durable power of attorney for health care appoints a person (called a health care agent or proxy, health care representative, or other name depending on the state) to make decisions for the person (the principal) in the event of incapacity to make health care decisions. Normally, people communicate their wishes directly to their doctors. But when a person no longer has the capacity to make or communicate a health care decision, another way to make and communicate a decision is needed. That is the role advance directives play. If no advance directive has been prepared, someone else not of the person's choosing may be called on to make health care decisions. Many states authorize default surrogate decision makers, usually next of kin. When state law does not authorize a default surrogate decision maker, doctors and hospitals still usually turn to next of kin, although the extent of their legal authority becomes...
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...allowing them to make preparations for the future. Advanced directives makes this possible, defined as legal documents that allow you to convey your decisions about end-of-life care ahead of time. “They provide a way for you to communicate your wishes to family, friends and health care professionals, and to avoid confusion later on.” (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/advancedirectives.html) Given the difficulties that come with making end-of-life decisions, many find those decisions to be unethical or even lawful in a sense. The choices that are made in some cases won’t please everyone and that includes family and close friends or even outsiders who are openly against making these types of choices. A living will can be used in the situation that an individual isn’t able to make life ending decisions on their own, providing a way to communicate your wishes pertaining to your life, to defuse confusion. A power of attorney helps the patient through the process of an advanced directive; many attorneys’ will draft an advanced directive for health care and execute that directive in conjunction with preparing the patients will. If no advance directive is available, someone else may be called upon to make health care...
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...Table of Contents I. Informed Consent A. Patient B. Healthcare Professional C. Consent for others D. Competencies II. Consent Forms A. Emergencies/Non-Emergencies B. Authorization C. End of Life Decisions III. Legal A. Processes B. Malpractices IV. Conclusion V. References The concept of the informed consent is always a subject that is uncertain. An informed consent can be presented as an understanding of the fact and implications. When giving informed consent, the person must have all the facts at the time of consent is needed. Concepts It is extremely important that a patient must be provided all the information needed to give consent and not encouraged or forced by any medical staff member. The patient should also be in right mind before consenting to any procedure. If the patient is under the influence of medication, the consent will have to be given to the next of kin. The physician is responsible for providing all details of the procedure and treatment that will occur to the patient. This conversation should also be noted in the patient’s medical record. The physician has the right to assign another staff member to obtain the informed consent form, but only if the physician has performed the requirements needed. When consent is needed from other family members, the physician is required to provide the family member the details of the treatment. Also, the patient must consent to render his/her voice to...
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...DeVry | HSM320 A.RETA Application Paper Advance Directives- Kevin Bean | Devry University- Andrea Reta, Prof. | | Kevin Bean | 12/15/2014 | This paper concerns the ethical basis for advance directives, or “Living Wills”; the value of these advance directives to the patients, their families; and the authorities that these advance directives give the above mentioned interested parties. | Contents Application Paper on Advance Directives 3 Abstract of Application Paper 3 Advance Health Care Directives 3 The Natural Death Acts 3 Legal Precedents for Advance Directives 3 Advance Health Care Directives: 4 California’s Advance Directive Law 4 The Natural Death Acts 5 Inception and Legal Basis 5 Current situation of N.D.A.s 5 Value of Advance Directives to Patient, Family, and Caregiver 6 Value to Author or Patient 6 Health Care Facility 6 Are Advance Directives Really Effective? 7 Living Will Example 8 References 13 Application Paper on Advance Directives Abstract of Application Paper This paper will examine the short history of Advance Directives in California, the other states that have added A.D.s, and what the legal basis and historical basis for these acts are. Previous to the Advance Directives, very similar laws are Natural Death Acts. In this report I will review some of the similarities, and differences between the A.D.s and the N.D.A.s. In the 1970s, with the modernization of health care facilities, some patients, especially...
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...To begin this case study, I would like to define a few key words that show up in the case. First, a will is a legal instrument whereby a person makes disposition of his or her property to take effect after death. Second, a living trust is created and operates before the death of a settlor. When a living trust is revocable, that means the grantor transfers the trust property to the trustee, but reserves the power to alter or terminate the arrangement and reclaim the trust property. Third, guardian ad litem is a guardian appointed by the court for a particular purpose such as defending a specific lawsuit or a legal proceeding involving a minor. Finally, probate is the process of providing a will’s validity in court and executing its provisions under the guidance of the court. When reviewing the case, there are a couple of issues. The first issue is whether Meghan is entitled to half of Linda’s estate under both the will and the trust under statute 853.25(1) as a beneficiary. This is a huge concern because Meghan was not named under Linda’s will or trust after she was born. Linda’s failure to plan accordingly to change her will and trust to include her new born daughter may cause her to be financially unstable when she grows up. The reason this is an issue is because section 853.25(1) only deals with a child adopted or born after the making of a will and not a trust. The second issue is how well the family will get together if James Cayo received all of Linda’s estate. When wills...
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...Act of 1990 required consumers to be provided with informed consent, information about their right to make advance health care decisions. This act is also called advance directives. The act requires that patients be given information about state laws that impact legal choices in making health care decisions. Health care facilities in every state are required by this act to notify patients 18 or older of their right to have an advance directive in their medical records. Advanced directives include living wills; do not resuscitate (DNR) orders, medical power of attorney, health care proxy, or organ or tissue donation. Every patient must be informed in written form by health care facilities of the laws in their state that are related to advance directives. Every patient has to sign the advance directive notification form stating that they have been informed of their right to have advance directives. This provides proof for the facility that they have informed the patient. This form has made laws concerning patients right’s stricter. Records management procedures have had to make some changes to the way they do things in order to respond to this legislation. They have had to make sure when a patient comes to the hospital that they find out if they have advanced directives. Before this act this was not a question they asked when you came to the hospital. Doctor’s and the health care team have to pay closer attention to what the patient wants and do as the patient wishes. This act has...
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...In this paper, I will discuss advance directives, what it is, and the reason for it. I will talk about the issues that are currently facing advance directives care and talk about whether it has failed, or not. Finally, I will prove my stand on the issues with evidence. What is Advance Directives? An Advance directive is a living will, which allows one to document their wishes concerning medical treatments at the end of life. Even though it’s optional, but all health care facilities are required by law to ask patients if they have one, and offer them the appropriate information, and documents to sign if they want it. There are two basic kinds of advance directives, living wills, and durable powers of attorney for health care. Advance directives are legally valid throughout the United States, but the laws governing advance directives vary from state, to state. Anyone can have advance directives, no lawyer is required, and it becomes validas soon as you sign it in front of the required witnesses. Anyone can be a witness. Reasons for advance directives Advance directive is designed to empower patients, and to allow them to have a voice in their care. It provides a way for patients to communicate their wishes to family, friends and health care professionals, when they are no longer able to do so. With advance care directives, you can express how much, or how little care you want done for you when you are no longer able to make these decisions for yourself. You can also appoint...
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