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Bay Staters Urged to Leave Final DirectionsBy Monique Coppola
Commonwealth News Service
06:00AM / Monday, April 13, 2009
BOSTON — Most Bay Staters won't leave home without their cell phones, day planners or to-do lists, but less than 70 percent have their own end-of-life health-care wishes documented.
This Thursday, April 16, is National Healthcare Decisions Day. It's a time to focus on those difficult decisions and discussion, says James Conway, "End of Life Subcommittee" chairman at the Health Care Quality and Cost Council.
"We hear many, many stories from families and from patients who are frustrated over the lack of having these conversations," he said.
Conway says it's important for patients to be clear about what their wishes are, and to make sure that their decisions are documented, using advance directives to ensure better quality care.
Dr. Mark Yurkofsky is the medical director of hospital programs for Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates. He says not only should every adult designate another adult in their life to be there to help make medical decisions, should he or she become incapacitated, but also that doctors can and should play an integral role in discussions about end-of-life care.
"It's important that physicians normalize the discussion of an advance directive as something that's part of everybody's routine health care education," said Yurkofsky.
The executive director of the Better Ending Partnership, Christine McCluskey, says that in addition to discussion and the designation of someone that you trust to make sure that your wishes are followed, it's important that those wishes be in writing.
"The best way to ensure that your wishes are followed is to fill out an advance directive, and in Massachusetts that's called a health-care proxy form," she said.
Health-care proxy forms are available free of charge and give a clear explanation of the responsibilities of a health care agent, and simple directions on how fill out and sign the form.
More information is available at partnershipforhealthcare.org. |
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