Information Makes Difficult Decisions Easier

Only 15-25 percent of people age 18 and older have living wills, according to Choice in Dying, a national non-profit organization. Living wills are legal documents that spell out for doctors and relatives a person’s wishes if he or she becomes too sick to eat or even breathe.

North Dakota adults have the right to make their own health care decisions as long as they have the ability to understand their own medical condition and the benefits, the risks and burdens associated with a particular course of treatment and care, and the alternatives, says Debra Pankow, extension family economics specialist at North Dakota State University.

To exercise their right to make medical decisions, North Dakotans need to consider three points carefully, Pankow says. First, make certain you fully understand your medical treatment options. If you don’t understand something or need more information, ask your health care providers. Second, if you have ethical or moral concerns about your decisions, speak to your minister, rabbi, priest or other advisor, or to family members or friends. And third, discuss your desires with your doctor or health care provider. Make sure your health care provider understands how you want matters handled if you become unable to make your own medical decisions.

In North Dakota, there are two ways residents can handle these concerns. "By creating a durable power of attorney for health care, they can specify in advance who should make health care decisions for them if they are unable to make their own, and can also provide guidelines as to the kind of treatments they should or should not be given," said Pankow. "Another option would be to create a living will in which they declare what sort of life-prolonging treatment, if any, they want applied to them if they should become terminally ill."

These decisions may seem confusing at first, but several documents have been created that help simplify difficult issues and make them easier to understand. One of these is "Five Wishes," created by Florida’s Commission on Aging with Dignity. "Five Wishes" focuses on the living will’s five sections:

• the type of medical treatment you want or don’t want
• how comfortable you want to be
• how you want people to treat you
• what you want your loved ones to know
• which person you want to make health care decisions for you when you can’t make them.

Another publication that helps simplify these decisions is from the NDSU Extension Service, "Decisions for Health in North Dakota: Advance Directives and Informed Health Care Consent." Written by Pankow, the publication takes you step-by-step through the process of filling out the necessary paperwork. To obtain copies of the NDSU publication or for more information about this subject, contact your NDSU Extension Service county office.

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Source: Debra Pankow, (701) 231-8593, dpankow@ndsuext.nodak.edu
Writer: Beth Payne, (701) 231-7881, bepayne@yahoo.com
Editor: Becky Koch, (701) 231-7875, bkoch@ndsuext.nodak.edu