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Helping
Your Clients or Patients Deal with Decisions About Medical
Care
Many professionals (attorneys, care
managers, social workers, doctors, nurses, etc.) help their
clients or patients plan ahead to deal with decisions about
medical care. Often this involves preparation of a Durable
Power of Attorney for Health Care, Health Care Proxy or similar
document ("PAHC") for the client or patient (as
principal under the PAHC). (We refer to both clients and patients
as "clients" in the remainder of this article).
Three Important
Tasks
When you help a client prepare and execute a
PAHC, you have three important tasks.
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Help the client select an appropriate agent
(or agents). Many clients, with guidance, can make the
selection without major difficulty.
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Help the client determine his medical care
desires. At times, this can be difficult. The client may
be unfamiliar with medical care decision-making, the client's
right to decide, and different types of available medical
treatment. The client may not have thought about (or may
not want to think about) his desires.
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Help the client communicate his desires
to the agent(s), so that the agent(s) will be in a position
to make decisions for the client. This communication task,
which calls for sending an accurate message which will
be received by the agent(s), can be challenging. Because
the statement of desires received must also be understood
by the agent(s) -- note that you may never have the opportunity
to meet the agent(s) -- the statement of desires must
be as clear and simple as possible.
The Two-Document
Approach
To help the client determine his desires and
communicate them to the agent(s), we suggest a two-document
approach. This approach supplements the PAHC (whether an attorney-drafted
document, or a California Medical Association or other form)
with a separate document. We have created Your
Way as such a separate document.
We suggest that the PAHC not contain the client's
statement of medical care desires. Instead, the client determines
and states his desires in Your Way.
He communicates the desires by reviewing Your
Way with the agent(s).
The two-document approach conforms to California’s
new (2000) health care decisions law, which contemplates that
the principal will communicate outside the PAHC (see Probate
Code §4684). Some states, however, require that particular
desires be stated within the PAHC. Check the law in your state.
About Your
Way
Your Way is printed
in pamphlet form (a 16-page two-sided book). It uses simplified
language. Your Way provides nine
different Topics or exercises, to help the client consider
and express feelings. Your Way is
set up to be useable even if the client is in poor health.
The client may complete all or any portion of Your
Way.
Your Way is copyrighted,
and distributed by H.E.L.P.,
a California non-profit organization.
You can preview
Your Way in PDF Format. (If
you do not have a PDF reader -- you can obtain one for
free from Adobe.)
Obtaining
Your Way
For information on obtaining copies of Your
Way, click here.
September 2000
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