Keeping Healthy: Advanced Care Planning - Taking Control of Your Health Early On

Advanced care planning isn't just for seniors.  Anyone over 18 should make their choices known in the event of an unforeseen medical emergency.  It's easier than you think but it means you have to start the conversation and you can start it today. 

Dr.  Patricia Bomba knows what she wants when it comes to health care.  So does the rest of her family.  Thanks to the fact that she's filled out a health care proxy designating an individual to make healthcare decisions on her behalf in the event she's unable to do so.

She says, "It's not about just death and dying.  It can be about acute illnesses or injury and potential recovery.  Medicine is so complex today that we can have a period where we aren't able to make to decisions and someone needs to stand in our shoes and make those decisions."  Doctor Bomba is part of the national initiative for advanced care planning.

She recalls cases like the one surrounding Terry Schiavo, a woman who was kept alive for fifteen years through the mean of life support.The two sides of her family battled the issue in court to either keep her alive with medical technology or to let her pass on.  Both sides of her family argued they knew what Terry Schiavo would have wanted. 

But without a Health Care Proxy Form of her own, doctors and courts didn't know what she wished because she couldn't communicate nor had she selected someone to make her end-of-life wishes known.  Doctors recommend having a family conversation about values and the quality of life you want to lead.  Also, it's best to learn who can execute those wishes. 

Dr. Bomba says it is a process about more than just forms.  She says, "It relieves the burden from families  It's really a gift to the family.  It's a gift to our family and a gift to ourselves.  But really, it's a gift to our family to be able to say this is what I want.  This is how I want you to behave, and it avoids conflict and confusion at the end."