Living Will vs Advance Directive

Here is a good website and the information provided within. I hope this provides you with information that will be helpful.

http://www.caringinfo.org/

A living will allows you to document your wishes concerning medical treatments at the end of life.

Before your living will can guide medical decision-making two physicians must certify:

You are unable to make medical decisions, You are in the medical condition specified in the state's living will law (such as "terminal illness" or "permanent unconsciousness"), Other requirements also may apply, depending upon the state. A medical power of attorney (or healthcare proxy) allows you to appoint a person you trust as your healthcare agent (or surrogate decision maker), who is authorized to make medical decisions on your behalf.

Before a medical power of attorney goes into effect a person’s physician must conclude that they are unable to make their own medical decisions. In addition:

If a person regains the ability to make decisions, the agent cannot continue to act on the person's behalf. Many states have additional requirements that apply only to decisions about life-sustaining medical treatments. For example, before your agent can refuse a life-sustaining treatment on your behalf, a second physician may have to confirm your doctor's assessment that you are incapable of making treatment decisions. What Else Do I Need to Know?

Advance directives are legally valid throughout the United States. While you do not need a lawyer to fill out an advance directive, your advance directive becomes legally valid as soon as you sign them in front of the required witnesses. The laws governing advance directives vary from state to state, so it is important to complete and sign advance directives that comply with your state's law. Also, advance directives can have different titles in different states. Emergency medical technicians cannot honor living wills or medical powers of attorney. Once emergency personnel have been called, they must do what is necessary to stabilize a person for transfer to a hospital, both from accident sites and from a home or other facility. After a physician fully evaluates the person's condition and determines the underlying conditions, advance directives can be implemented. One state’s advance directive does not always work in another state. Some states do honor advance directives from another state; others will honor out-of-state advance directives as long as they are similar to the state's own law; and some states do not have an answer to this question. The best solution is if you spend a significant amount of time in more than one state, you should complete the advance directives for all the states you spend a significant amount of time in. Advance directives do not expire. An advance directive remains in effect until you change it. If you complete a new advance directive, it invalidates the previous one.
You should review your advance directives periodically to ensure that they still reflect your wishes. If you want to change anything in an advance directive once you have completed it, you should complete a whole new document.

Search Are You Traveling Without a Map? A Layperson’s Guide to Advance Care PlanningFree Downloads:

Caring Connections Brochures

State-Specific Advance Directives Download Advance Care Planning Brochures: Artificial Nutrition and Hydration at the End of Life Conversations Before the Crisis Understanding Advance Directives End-of-Life Decisions

National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization

Support for this Web site was provided by a grant from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Princeton, New Jersey. www.rwjf.org

Chaplain Jason is very thorough. Should you want more on caregiving, estate planning, easy to understand legal explanations, end of life decisions, you'll find them all on www.50somethinginfo.com

Best of luck.

Sue

Thank you both for your responses! I truly appreciate the input and it gives me a better understanding of the differences between the two forms. I will discuss this with mom and now we can make an informed decision.

I plan to do an advance directive as well. As an avid bicyclist, I think it's a good idea!

Jennifer

How did the C Diff infection get cured for your mom? My dad had it in the hospital, they said it was gone and released him. 18 days later, it came back. He has been on Flagyl (Metronidazole) for nearly a week and it seems better but not gone. How can I make sure this is taken care of - I didn't even think the E.R. physician took it very seriously at all. Of course the bowel incontinence is humiliating for my dad, and I'm afraid the illness will just get worse.

Steve,

My mom was on Flagyl and Vancomycin with no real cure from those. Sometimes they do work, but not for her. She had the illness for 3 months (in and out of three different hospitals!) before she was referred to Dr. Higginbottom, an Infectious Disease Specialist here in San Diego, CA.

Dr. Higginbottom reviewed her case and gave her a medicine that was somewhat experimental. He said they'd had very promising results with it and asked if mom wanted to try it. At that point she was willing to try anything that may have a chance of helping her be well.

I called mom just now but she didn't recall the name of medicine either. However, it absolutely was the med that finally cured her of this nasty illness. She calls it the "miracle pills".

I am including the link to Dr. Higginbottom. It would be worth calling him and asking for the name of the med. Then you can give it to your dad's Infectious Disease Specialist. If he doesn't have a IDS doc yet, he needs to get one asap!

One other thing... because my mom was so sick, I also got medical power of atty, which allowed me to become her "patient advocate" and do a lot of the phone calling and leg work that she was just too tired and too sick to do. Something to discuss with your dad... I definitely feel for you. This is a nasty disease that is becoming more and more prevalent.

If you have any questions about the illness or what causes it etc, feel free to ask. I'm pretty well versed on the topic now. I even joined a C Diff forum seeking information and help back when she was sick! I've learned how to explain it in "plain English" not in doc terms.

I hope your dad recovers soon. Tell him mom has been well now for over a year... so he CAN rebound from it. It just takes time and will power to believe he WILL get better. Here's that link:

http://www.scripps.org/physicians/4315-higginbottom

Jennifer

Steve: My heart goes out to you and your father and I wanted to suggest that you try something that has proven extremely beneficial to my daughter. During my work-day, I received a distress call from my daughter. Her symptoms were terrifying, only because she had been complaining of extreme fatigue for more than 2 weeks, and now there was a large quantity of blood in her stool! Of course, my first thought was: cancer!

Other than a few polyps, the colonoscopy did not reveal anything. But as I sat praying, the words: "ulcerative colitis" jumped into my mind! Although we took the prescription the doctor wrote, I knew that any results from medication would most likely carry side effects that would make my daughter even more miserable, and would probably be short term.

I drove her straight to our local herb store (Good Nutrition in Alpharetta, GA), and talked to an experienced salesman there. (This gentleman has been sent from God; he has successfully battled cancer for many, many years with herbs and diet, alone)!

He recommended colidal silver, an herb (which name I cannot recall just now) and OTC diarrhea medication. He also suggested a diet to help restore and regulate the healthy bacteria in her colon. That was 5 years ago. My daughter has not had another bout with colitis!

While C-Diff is not colitis, they both affect the body the same way. At this point, the herbs are worth a try! I do believe in and use traditional medicine and medical doctors. But in many instances when traditional medicine only produced limited results or results with unpleasant and unwanted side effects for the ailments I was battling,(sinusitis, fibroid disease, arthritis), the herbs that I take have produced excellent results.

I believe with everything in me that both you and your father's health, dignity and productivity will return dramatically, if you and he are willing to get on a regimen of proper herbs and nutrition.

You can even call the Good Nutrition store and discuss your dad's issues over the phone. They are wonderful people and thru the knowledge that I've gained from them, have helped me to save the life of 2 co-workers - both who were suffering with debilitating colitis that eventually turned to cancer!

At this point, Good Nutrition can't hurt!

You and your dad are in my prayers!

I am a RN and C DIF is highly contagious and it may have been some of his clothes. On the antibacteria solutions you can buy today they read kills 99.9% of bacteria, C DIF is that .1% that it will not kil. Make sure every thing is cleaned as well as can be. Including all bedding.. Wear gloves when helping him get cleaned up, then wash your hands for at least 45 seconds with soap and good friction. You can buy an inexpensive "blue light" to see just what is remaining bacteria is left. Best of luck to you and your family.

Thank you for your response and information. My dad passed away on Feb. 7th, and the doctor put C DIF as one of the secondary factors to his death. This is a scary "bug" for sure and even more so because it was so hard for us to get any solid information. When the lab tests first came back positive they isolated him and told everyone to wear gowns and gloves when visiting, but the case manager basically said visitors should just wash their hands and there would be no problem.

The C DIF came and went for the next 3 months until he passed away. Or did it? Two days before he died, the lab tests came back and said he did NOT have C DIF, so all isolation measures were removed. But one of the physical therapists working with dad said he had seen dozens of C DIF cases, and when cleaning Dad up he said the stool definitely was that of a C DIF infected person. And he definitely had very bad incontinence.

And throughout the three months Dad tested positive (and then negative) for C DIF, the different ways he was handled in hospitals and nursing homes was amazing. One nurse would come in with full gown, gloves, etc., and when she left she would wipe down chairs and equipment he touched, and she would insist visitors wear gowns. The next nurse (or doctor) an hour later would visit with no gown, no gloves, and just take a squirt of hand sanitizer after the visit.

I certainly hope they make some progress with this infection in the next decade or so. If I was 65 or 70 and facing even routine surgery I would be extremely afraid of getting C DIF in a hospital.

Steve,

I'm saddened to hear that your father died. I've never seen anything like C Diff and you're right to say that it's terrifying to realize how easily you can contract it while hospitalized. I personally avoid antibiotics whenever possible, especially in light of how they impacted my mom's system and allowed the C Diff to take over.

My mom continues to do well but we still take one day at a time. And our time together is never taken for granted.

Jennifer

Jennifer, thanks for your kind words. I hope your mother keeps doing well and that you have much time with her.

Another excellent source for advance directive (living will and medical power of attorney) information is: www.LifecareDirectives.com. There you can also obtain free download-able state standard advance directives, as well as university-research-validated comprehensive advance directives for use in all U.S. states, the District of Columbia (DC), and four major U.S. territories (American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands).