Living Wills, etc.

Wednesday, April 16, is National Health Care Decisions Day. There was an interesting program on Y103.9 on Sunday morning, when Stew Cohen interviewed Jim Gould, an instructor in the philosophy department.

This Wednesday, April 16, the Partners Coalition (a grouping of hospitals, hospices, Mc Henry County College and faith communities) will sponsor a panel discussion at MCC about these valuable documents and effective planning. The program will be from 7:00-8:30PM. I don't recall that the location was mentioned; try the Conference Center auditorium.

Stew and Jim discussed the importance of living wills and medical directives on the Northwest Spectrum program, which is aired each week at 6:00AM. Lovely time for an important program; right? There is a move afoot at the radio station to archive the programs so that they can be accessed online.

Many already know about Living Wills and Powers of Attorney for Health Care and Property, but apparently only about 30% of the population have completed them. And of that number, many have not discussed them with family members. Will the family be able to find the forms when they are needed?

After you prepare and sign your documents, you might want to get someone like me to shoot holes in them and show you where they will fall apart. They'll look good on paper, but it's important to trouble-shoot them and identify in advance where they will break down and not be honored. Get someone to play the devil's advocate; then re-do and tighten up the forms to raise the possibility that your wishes will actually be carried out.

During the program Jim explained the importance of three issues: 1. Consider your values and goals; do you want to be kept alive in a vegetative state indefinitely? 2. Put in writing. Have the documents prepared and then sign them. You won't even have to go broke getting them done. 3. Talk with your family. Tell them your wishes and ask them to honor them.

Let me add No. 4: put them where they will be found when they are needed!

The timing is great, isn't it? The day after Income Tax Day. Let's hope we survive another April 15th!