Don't Be A Statistic - Make An Advanced Directive Or Living Will Today!
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In a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, Katherine Hobson discusses a Center for Disease Control (CDC) survey of nursing home and hospice residents' files. Specifically, the CDC survey looked to how many residents had an "end of life care plan" or "advanced directive" on file at the time of discharge.
The CDC's numbers were not good:
- Overall, 28% of home health care patients, 65% of nursing home residents, and 88% of discharged hospice care patients had at least one advance directive (AD) on record.
- The most common types of ADs among home health care patients, nursing home residents, and discharged hospice care patients were living wills and do not resuscitate orders.
- Care recipients under age 65 years were less likely to have any AD than those aged 85 and over; black care recipients were less likely than white care recipients to have any AD in all three populations. These age and racial differences were larger in the home health care and nursing home populations than in the hospice care population.
Twenty years ago, Congress passed the Patient Self-Determination Act (PSDA) requiring most health care facilities to inform adult patients about their rights to execute an AD. I have previously written about the importance of "getting your affairs in order," which, in part, means having a living will or advanced directive. Don't be one of the 35% of nursing home residents or 72% of home health care patients without one.
It's important to make your wishes known in writing so that your loved ones will not be left to wonder what those wishes are. It is equally important to make sure your caregivers know what your wishes for end of life care are. Tell them! Make a living will or advanced directive today; don't wait another minute.
