National Healthcare Decisions Day - Do You Have A Plan?

April 16 is National Healthcare Decisions Day (NHDD), a nationwide day to encourage adults of all ages to plan ahead, make important health decisions, and put our medical, legal, and spiritual wishes in writing before serious health challenges occur. Advance directives help your family make decisions for you when you cannot speak for yourself. Doing this will help bring some peace of mind to ourselves and our families in an emergency. When you guide your family with an advance directive, it helps decrease the stress that would otherwise come when family members are unsure of your wishes. It can also give them confidence that they are doing what you would want. It helps to guide the family when there are disagreements about the “right” next step. 

It can be difficult for many of us to face and address these issues alone and we might put them off because we don’t want to “think negatively.” National Healthcare Decisions Day allows us to look at these important issues and guide our family with support from each other. Advance directives should be reviewed annually to allow for changes to be made as we grow and change throughout our lives. Our last wishes at the age of 20 are likely to be different from what we would want at 30, 40, 50, or 60 years old. The most recent advanced directive is the one that will take legal priority.    

The first step in planning is to choose the form that is best for you. There are many types of advanced directive forms. Georgia has a state-specific advanced directive that is free to anyone. You can view the form and download it with easy-to-understand instructions on this website. The language is more legally based; this form can only be used in Georgia. If you are traveling in another state, the advanced directive would not be valid. Another form that is highly respected and comprehensive is Five Wishes. This 12-page form is considered by many to be the easiest to understand and meets the legal requirements in 44 states, including Georgia. It includes important personal, emotional, and spiritual matters, in addition to medical wishes. The form allows for care planning in an easy-to-use approach.  

It is important to remember that advanced directives only become active when two doctors agree that you are unable to make decisions for yourself. Each copy needs to be signed individually and you need two witnesses who are not related to you or have no economic investment in you. The forms do not have to be notarized in Georgia. Each healthcare provider will need a copy of the form with an original signature. Many people make 10 to 12 copies of all the completed forms with the signature section blank and then have a signing party. Once complete, each Healthcare proxy will need an originally signed copy and each medical provider will also need a copy. 

Guiding your family or the person you trust with your health care decisions eases their emotions and helps them make the right decisions for you. Hemophilia of Georgia Social Workers are available to talk about advanced directives and HoG has FREE forms available for completion. The forms are also available online. Learn more about the Five Wishes advance directive forms.