#advance directive

[crippled-peeper]

cripples of Tumblr have asked: what’s an Advance Directive?

It is a legal document that gives an easy-to-understand breakdown of your wishes in the event you cannot make medical decisions for yourself anymore (example: acute brain injury). It lets you choose a trusted person to make those choices on your behalf (you must discuss it with them first and they must be an adult).

You can include specific wishes like: I don’t want my life to be sustained only by life support. I don’t want to be resuscitated. I do want you to try everything to save me. Etc.

To make the document official, you need 2 non family members OR a notary to sign it as witnesses.

Many hospitals and their systems keep a blank document you can print and fill out. You can also ask for one if you are ever hospitalized, ever in the ER, or ever have any kind of medical procedure done.

Even if you are healthy, strongly consider getting this document filled out.

It is one of those “absolute worst-case scenario” plans that has unfortunately become EXTREMELY IMPORTANT since the beginning of the COVID pandemic.

Previously healthy and young people were en-masse losing the ability to advocate for themselves (because of ventilation or severe illness), and many had not planned for it to happen, and did not prepare this document. Very difficult decisions had to be made for them without their input.

This document should be a part of routine healthcare. If you don’t know about it now you do.

Make your wishes known. Put it in writing.

[zen-and-the-art-of-caregiving]

POLST

Today’s strip deals with a person’s wishes, in regards to life-sustaining treatment at end-of-life. The subject of whether or not you’d want to be intubated or fed by a machine was complex enough before this age of covid we’re suddenly living in, but now it seems to have gained an added dimension of relevance. Recently, I’ve heard several people tell me that they’d prefer not to be put on a ventilator if they were hospitalized with covid, and I think that they’re conflating that notion with the controversial topic of being kept alive by machines, during end-stage care. 

An otherwise healthy person being able to breathe long enough for a treatment to work is vastly different than preventing a person from dying naturally, through agonizing intervention at the sunset of their life. Again, I feel like our aversion to talking about death—and all the processes and customs involved with it—makes it harder for us to make informed decisions until we and our families find ourselves overwhelmed, in the middle of a bad situation. 

Sometimes I worry like my comic is becoming less relevant as young people are struggling just to preserve their livelihood. But strips like this one remind me that it might be more timely than ever. 

Special thanks to MK Czerwiec for all the help and feedback on this strip. <3 

[zen-and-the-art-of-caregiving]

CPR

[memorialmerits]

who gets to speak for you

most people picture a medical power of attorney as something for the elderly. it isn't. it is for any adult old enough to end up in an ER unable to talk.

here is the part nobody explains. if you have never named a health care agent, the hospital does not simply turn to whoever loves you most. the law picks for you, in a fixed order that changes from state to state, and the person it lands on may not be the one you would have chosen. a medical power of attorney form, also called a healthcare power of attorney or a health care proxy, is how you make that choice yourself, ahead of time, instead of leaving it to a statute and a stranger in scrubs.

two documents, two different jobs. a medical power of attorney names a person to decide for you. a living will, sometimes called an advance directive, records what you actually want done. one names someone, one writes down your wishes, and most adults need both. the form only takes effect if a physician confirms you cannot speak for yourself, so filling it out today changes nothing about who is in charge tomorrow. it just makes sure the right person steps in if that day ever comes.

whether it needs a notary or two witnesses depends on your state, and the rules genuinely differ across all 50. that is the detail people get wrong, so check yours.

roughly two in three US adults have never put any of this in writing, according to Health Affairs. the fix takes about five minutes and one honest conversation.

if you want the full walk-through, with a free, state-specific, attorney-drafted form you can start without paying anything, the guide is here:

medical power of attorney form

the form itself comes from Legal Templates, which offers attorney-drafted, state-specific documents that are free to start:

Legal Templates