Five Wishes for When You're Too Sick to Make Decisions
By Arlene
F. Harder, MA, MFT
As
you consider using
the Five Wishes document,
I suggest you read
one person's expression
of what he wants to
happen when he can
no longer converse
with and enjoy the
people around him.
I think you'll like How
Can You Tell When I
Want You to Pull the
Plug? by
Arthur Fabian, Jr. |
|
Five
Wishes is possibly the best
directive for advanced care when
you are no longer able to make
health decisions for yourself and
it has captured the hearts and
minds of people across the country.
Best
of all, it is easy to understand
and simple to use, as well as a
gift to your family members and
friends so that they won't have
to guess what you want. .
Even though
you may live in one of the
few states where Part A is not
accepted as a legal document, it
is a good tool for thinking through
durable power of attorney for health
care issues. Even if you can't
use it in some states,
you can often get a legal form
from
most hospitals and some doctor's
offices.
Part B is perhaps one of the strongest features of Five Wishes because it goes into comfort and remembrance issues.
The document was designed by the Commission on Aging
with Dignity, which is a private, non-profit organization founded in 1996
to affirm and safeguard human dignity, and to promote better care of the
dying. The shortened name, Aging with Dignity, is now the Five Wishes
parent organization.
For many
years we reprinted the
full text so you would know what
was included in the form, even
though you needed to sign the original form for it to
be legal. However, the content has
changed since I first put it online
and recently I received an e-mail noting that some of the
information we had was no longer correct.
So I have decided to share with you
the following information and encourage
you to contact these resources directly
rather than reprint the form.
 There
are more than 13 million copies
of Five Wishes that have been distributed
via 15,000 partner organizations
nationwide. It meets the legal
requirements of 43
states, including the District
of Columbia, and is
useful in all 50.
The remaining non-Five Wishes states are those that have additional noticing/warning
requirements or specify certain forms be used.
Five Wishes is available in 23 languages and in Braille.
See
the many new and additional informational resources available
at Aging
With Dignity, where they continue to provide free copies of Five Wishes
to educators and in case of financial hardship, but otherwise, individual copies
are $5 each, but only $1 each in quantities of 25 or more.
You can read the latest
version (PDF) of Five Wishes on the Aging
With Dignity website.
I strongly suggest you don't put off getting
and signing this document. Some day it will be too late, just as it is too
late to sign a will after you have died. I realize it is easy to procrastinate
doing this, but your family will greatly appreciate your effort. And if
you do get sick (as sooner or later we all will), you will feel better knowing
that the chances of being taken care of as you would like to be taken care
of are greatly improved.
Go to The Five Wishes Document, page 1. |
