If you, at some point, were unable to make your healthcare decisions, would a loved one or someone you trust be able to make them for you in accordance to your wishes?

Communicating your health care preferences with your loved ones or someone you trust is hard. On April 16, Bon Secours is proud to be part of National Healthcare Decisions Day. Our team is available to assist patients in answering questions about advance medical directives. Information displays and chaplains will be available in our hospitals’ lobbies to answer your questions and help you complete your advance medical directive.

Advance medical directives, which are also referred to as a “living will” or “health care power of attorney,” allow you to name a friend, family member or other individual as your “agent” to make your health care decisions—to accept or refuse health care—for you if, at some point, you can’t make them for yourself.

Medical decisions covered under an advance directive include, but are not limited to medication, surgery, mental health treatment, health facility admission, hydration and nutrition by tubes and machines that breathe for you.

Under the Health Care Decisions Act, your agent can’t make healthcare decisions for you that he or she knows goes against your religious beliefs, basic values and stated preferences.

According to the Pew Research Center, 42% of Americans have had a friend or relative suffer from a terminal illness or coma in the last five years and for a majority of these people and 23% of the general public, the issue of withholding life sustaining treatment came up.

For more information about National Healthcare Decisions Day at Bon Secours, visit www.bonsecours.com/calendar or call (804) 237-PRAY[7729]. Advance Directive forms are also available at http://www.vhha.com. You can also follow the conversation on Twitter via the #HaveTheTalk hashtag.

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