Advance directives are important legal documents that guide medical professionals in how to treat patients in such situations as resuscitation. While some patients may want aggressive medical treatment, others may not. Patients can modify these directives at any time.
Healthcare providers are legally responsible for honoring advance directives, and they should be held accountable for implementing them. However, there is no guarantee that procedures patients request will always be followed. That’s why caregivers must be vigilant in keeping abreast of procedures involving patients and making patients’ written requests available.
Caregivers and others can contact local medical facilities for information on the appropriate documents for advance directives. They are not the same in every state. Forms can also be obtained from state health departments, legal offices, and on the Internet. Most states require that the documents be witnessed.
In addition to having written directives, people who want to make their death wishes even more emphatic can sing a song about how they want to die. A rousing song, written and sung by Vickie Hannah Lein, with music by Suzannah Doyle, “My Advance Directive” is a musical declaration celebrating death with dignity.
Frances Shani Parker, Author
"Becoming Dead Right: A Hospice Volunteer in Urban Nursing Homes”
Hospice and Nursing Homes Blog
Thank you for posting my song, My Advance Directive. I want this song to receive as wide of a distribution as possible.
ReplyDeleteI've written a song called The Courage to Mourn. I will post that on You Tube soon.
You are doing great work. Isn’t the internet amazing?
Vicki Hannah Lein