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On April 16, Decide for Yourself—It’s Your Health Care
Submission Date: Monday, April 07, 2008 - Multiple Pennsylvania Newspapers
By
Cheri Rinehart, R.N.
Vice President, Integrated Delivery Systems
The Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania (HAP)
What if a debilitating, terminal illness, or injury made it impossible for you to communicate? What kind of health care would you want? How would you tell your doctors? On April 16—the first-ever National Healthcare Decisions Day—Pennsylvania hospitals urge you to think about, and make provisions for, the kind of medical treatment you would want should a catastrophic accident or illness make you unable to express your wishes to family, loved ones, and doctors. Joining with 60 prominent national health care, religious, and legal organizations and countless community groups, hospitals throughout the state are inviting the general public to drop by and learn more about end-of-life health care decision-making. Social workers, chaplains, and other trained staff will be on hand at many hospitals to discuss the use of advance directives such as health care powers of attorney and living wills. These documents indicate the kind of medical care you would—or would not—want if you could speak for yourself. Often, advance directives can be prepared for free, without a lawyer. For more information and a list of participating hospitals, visit
www.CareForPA.org
. The overwhelming majority of Americans believe that gravely ill or injured patients have the right to make decisions about whether to be kept alive through medical treatment. The federal Patient Self-determination Act of 1990 affirms our right to document health care wishes and decisions. In Pennsylvania, Act 169 recognizes patients’ rights to name health care representatives who have the power to make decisions on their behalf. The legislation includes a sample advance directive to be filled in and used by the general public (also available on the
www.CareForPA.org
website). In Pennsylvania, advance directives do not even have to be notarized. Still, just 25 percent of Americans have advance directives to guarantee their right to decide their end-of-life health care. Fewer than half of terminally ill patients have advance directives, leaving heart-wrenching medical decisions to family and caregivers. Hospitals all too often witness the agony of families as they determine whether to give, or withhold, life-sustaining treatment. The seven-year legal battle over Terri Schiavo’s right to live or die showed the importance of advance directives and the tragedy that can result when a patient’s health care wishes are unknown. Sadly, within the last five years, 40 percent of Americans have had relatives or close friends suffer from terminal illness. The odds are all too good that you will observe first-hand the heartbreak of a family forced to make end-of-life health care decisions for a loved one. The best way to protect your right to live or die, and to spare your family from the responsibility of deciding for you, is to decide for yourself. Pennsylvania’s hospitals urge you to participate in National Healthcare Decisions Day. Take time on April 16 to discuss and document your health care decisions. It’s peace of mind for you, and your loved ones.
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2008 Op-Eds
