Knowing Someone Has Your Back At The End Of Your Life

By Sara Zeff Geber, PhD

While we were celebrating Passover and Easter with our loved ones and family, National Health Care Decisions Day came and went. It was on Saturday, April 16. It was designated to remind us that no matter our age, planning for the inevitable day when we cannot make our own health care decisions is more than a good idea; it is essential. Not planning for that inevitable event is like flying a plane that you don’t know how to land. The only people who don’t need a plan are those who meet their demise like my father: standing and talking to a friend one minute, and in an instant was lying on the floor – dead. If you are sure that is your fate, then don’t waste your time doing any planning. However, be advised that the ultimate result of not providing end-of-life instructions is that when you find yourself in the hospital toward the end of life (as many people do), the hospital ‘care protocol conveyor belt’ takes over and you will be hooked up to whatever life-support is available to keep your body nourished and your heart pumping.

What Do People Want?

Let’s look at some facts and some history about end-of-life care. Studies on end-of-life preferences demonstrate quite clearly that the vast majority of people want to die at home. However, because of a lack of willingness to talk about preferences for end-of-life care and advance care planning, over one-fifth of patients still die in the hospital. If your wish for the end of your life is an extended stay in an acute care unit of a hospital, hooked up to machines designed to keep you alive, then by all means ignore all of these statistics and opportunities to make other choices. My friend Mitch, a retired ER doc, told me how frequently he watched as family members argued about whether to keep their elder relative alive through extraordinary measures (feeding tube, mechanical ventilation, urinary catheterization, dialysis, etc.) or to let them die a more natural death. Often these well-meaning relatives were confused about what the elder wanted, or remember hearing it differently than another relative. In the end, and in the absence of written instructions, the final decision was almost always “keep her alive.”

End-of-Life Care Will Cost You

For those who still are not convinced that planning is the best way to ensure an end-of-life experience that is under your control and as comfortable as possible, you may also want to consider the cost implications of hospital care versus palliative or hospice care at home.

End-of-life costs for people with chronic diseases can be $57,000/yr. and up. Medicare will generally pick up most of that, depending on medigap coverage, pre-approvals and cooperating providers, and how long you are expected to live, but one study found that out-ot-pocket expenditures for end-of-life treatments and care are still averaging close to $12,000., with a range that goes up to close to $100,000. in the final year of life.

Medicare has covered hospice care since 1983 and usage of this benefit has slowly been increasing. In 2018, for example, 50.7% of those who died had taken advantage of hospice care for their final weeks or months of life. The savings associated with using hospice, rather than in-hospital care or a nursing home is estimated to be $117.-$400. per day.

The best-known way of creating an advance directive (also known as a healthcare proxy or power-of-attorney for health care decisions), is to work with an attorney who specializes in estate planning. They will suggest that you create a full set of end-of-life documents, which usually includes a will, a power-of-attorney for financial decisions, an advance directive, and possibly a trust. They will give you a worksheet and have a series of discussions with you about your preferences for end-of-life care and who you would choose to make decisions for you about your health and finances if you could not make them yourself. In addition to denial about the urgency of creating these documents, the cost of a complete estate plan can range from $1000-$8000., depending on how complex it needs to be.

Quick and Easy Advance Directive Online

If you are now convinced that advance care planning is important and necessary but you aren’t ready to do the full estate plan, there is a way to produce and file just the advance directive document, online – and it’s free! Since 2009, Vital Decisions has worked with individuals through health insurers to set up their wishes, should they be unable to communicate their wants at the end of life. Today, in addition to their insurance partners’ clients, they also offer a free program for the general public. It’s called My Living Voice and it guides you through three stages of preparing an advance directive: 1) setting a healthcare proxy 2) Talking through values 3) Goals of Care and Treatment wishes. So check it out, in honor of National Health Care Decisions Day, and give your loved ones the peace of mind of knowing what you want at the end of your life. Plus, it will give you peace of mind that you have communicated your final wishes to those who will be making decisions for you when you cannot.

Complete Article HERE!

Don’t leave your health decisions to chance

It’s easy to put off making important decisions in life, especially health care decisions. They can be uncomfortable and complex. Yet taking time to discuss and document your health care wishes can bring peace of mind and lead to better health outcomes in the future.

By William Creech

It’s easy to procrastinate

There are so many things to do every day, an almost-limitless amount of “low hanging fruit” items to cross off the list. It’s easy to put off thinking about your health care wishes.

There are many more enjoyable things to plan and ponder, while considering your health care wishes can feel like a chore. When given a choice between planning a vacation or outlining your end-of-life wishes, it’s easy to pick the more fun, less distressing task.

You also may procrastinate because you believe these decisions can wait for a more appropriate time in the future. Unfortunately, the right time and circumstances never seem to line up.

Documentation of your wishes

Thinking through and documenting your health care wishes tells your family and health care team what kind of care you want if you are too ill to express your wishes yourself. This could occur if you’re terminally ill, seriously injured, in a coma, in the late stages of dementia or near the end of life.

Some decisions that you should document include when you want to be resuscitated by CPR, when and for how long you want to be placed on a mechanical ventilator, or if you want to be fed through a feeding tube.

Record your wishes in a legal form called an advance directive. This document isn’t just for older adults. Anyone over 18, regardless of state of health, can complete an advance directive. It’s only activated if or when you are incapacitated and cannot make health care decisions.

One type of advance directive, a power of attorney for health care, is preferred because it makes your care wishes known and designates a person to make decisions for you if you cannot speak for yourself. This person is called a “health care agent.”

When selecting your health care agent, remember this story:

Two leaders pondered a difficult decision and were united in their approach. But soon, the second leader started to second guess the decision. The first leader said to the second, “Now is not the time to be a fence straddler.”

As you select your health care agent, pick a person you trust to follow your wishes and hold firm to the decisions.

You can update an advance health care directive or power of attorney for health care at any time, such as after a new diagnosis, a change in marital status or if your thoughts about end-of-life care evolve.

Get better outcomes

Procrastinating health care decision-making is a serious matter, so the sooner you begin, the better the potential outcome.

In some cases, life can be prolonged using advanced technology like ventilators, vasopressors and surgery. It’s great to be an educated health care consumer and understand the available treatment options, but it’s also important to remain objective, and listen to and heed the advice of your health care team.

If your health care team is unsure of your wishes, they may insist on prolonging care or performing invasive treatments on your behalf. These actions can have serious negative side effects and result in low quality of life.

Documenting your wishes early ensures that you will get the medical care you want and need while avoiding unwanted heroic measures that may be harmful. It also relieves unnecessary suffering, and eases your family and friends of decision-making burdens during moments of crisis or grief. What a gift this is for them.

Tips for difficult decisions

These conversations and decisions are not easy, but they are important.

Here’s my advice on tackling difficult decisions with your family and friends:

Don’t kick the can down the road.

Sometimes getting started is the hardest part. Years ago, I drove a vehicle with a manual three-speed transmission on the column. Unlike the automatic engines found in cars today, you could give this car a small push downhill to start the engine. In the same way, some people just need a little push to get started.

Perhaps you feel the day will never come that you face a serious injury or illness or that you will die in your sleep. But nearly every family is affected by a serious illness or injury at some point. If decisions are put off and not documented, a well-intentioned but uninformed family member could make decisions that don’t align with your wishes. I have found this to be the case on many occasions. A rolling snowball in the form of unmet health care decision-making can lead to a big mess that can become a proverbial avalanche if left unheeded.

Don’t decide to do nothing.

Inaction is still an action. If you refuse to make difficult decisions in health care, you are still deciding, but it’s much riskier. It’s like gambling on a roulette wheel. You don’t know where the ball is going to stop. Instead of taking action to improve your odds, you are just hoping for a good outcome.

You take control by expressing your wishes and choosing a responsible health care agent in an advance directive. These actions guide your roulette ball by adding flappers on the wheel that align with your desires. Doing so can make the difference between comfort or chaos for you, your health care team and your family.

Keep points simple yet specific.

As you complete your advance directive, you will be advised to consider all options. This can feel overwhelming. The key is to keep it simple because there is no way you can cover every possible scenario.

Too often, advance directives are too generic or too detailed. I recommend a happy medium where some key themes are outlined and cover a myriad of scenarios. Keep it simple when you can.

Let professionals guide you.

When you are ready, find a health care professional to guide you through completing an Advance Directive booklet. Social workers and chaplains in health care organizations, along with faith leaders, community service workers in local communities and volunteers, are trained to assist you. Your primary care provider also can assist. These professionals will help you work through the decisions, but they won’t tell you what to do.

Advanced planning and outlining your wishes before you need the care gives you the opportunity to communicate your wishes with your family. Talk with them about your advance directive and health care wishes, along with your rationale behind the decisions. Give a copy to your health care agent and health care team.

It’s prudent to be a well-informed patient as you outline your health care wishes. They are not only life decisions, but also they’re life-altering.

Helpful links:

Complete Article HERE!

After Widowhood Comes a Second Act with Purpose

What I learned after my husband’s death helped me build a business to help others handle their own myriad of tasks

Ronnie Genser and Sandy Weinberg on the final cruise they took together before his unexpected death

By Ronnie Genser

My unexpected journey to my “second act” began on September 20, 2011, the second day of Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year 2011) when my beloved husband Sandy (Sanford) Weinberg, age 61, had an unexpected massive heart attack around 11 pm.

Sandy was a health care management professor at the graduate level and a worldwide FDA Regulatory Affairs consultant, who also lectured and trained pharmaceutical companies around the world on how to get their new drugs through the U.S. regulatory process. He had just returned a few hours earlier from a speaking engagement to European pharmaceutical executives at one of his client companies in Cork, Ireland.

A week later after two operations when his doctors told me there was no more they could do, they asked me what I wanted to do. Fortunately, I knew what Sandy would have wanted because ten years previously we not only completed our Advance Directives for Health Care in our home state of Georgia, but we also discussed our end-of-life values and wishes.

Doing What Needed to Be Done

Based on these discussions, I asked his doctors if I could have 36 hours for the immediate family to arrive, then say their goodbyes, and recite the Vidui (Jewish confessional) prayer at his bedside. I also told the medical personal attending him that afterwards it would be time to turn off the life support machines keeping him alive. He died on October 8, 2011 – Yom Kippur (the Jewish Day of Atonement), just as Neilah (the Yom Kippur closing prayer) was beginning in the Eastern time zone.

My long-time financial advisor and friend told me, if what had happened to me should ever happen to her, she’d have me on ‘speed dial.’

About three months after my husband’s death, while speaking with my long-time financial advisor and friend, she told me if what had happened to me should ever happen to her, she’d have me ‘on speed dial.’ This was because not only was her husband one of her employees, but also because I had shared with her many of the challenges and tasks I initially faced after my husband’s unexpected death. She also said she could not both run her business and do all the things that needed to be done.

I thanked her for the vote of confidence, but politely told her I did not have the time or personal bandwidth to start a new business. Not only was I attending to all the ‘after a death’ tasks (i.e., ‘the stuff’) I needed to do, but I was also running my 20-year-old business, Genser International Consulting, a sole proprietor international sales and marketing consulting company, focused on helping U.S. companies find export markets for their products, and overseas firms find new or additional U.S. markets.

Preparing to Start My New Business

Five months later, I had dinner with another long-time friend who had been in international finance for many years and had left that career to become a financial advisor. She immediately said I needed to speak to the Financial Planning Association of Georgia (FPA of GA) of which she was a member. Ten days after we spoke, she called to tell me I would be their monthly speaker in two months.

A man wearing a button up shirt and tie smiling. Next Avenue, bereavement, grief, widow
Sandy Weinberg

Great reviews after my speech led me to really think about starting a new business, which I did. However, it took me a couple of years to figure out what services I would offer, and more importantly how to verbalize them in a way potential clients could easily understand.

Because I didn’t know anyone who was doing what I wanted to do, there appeared to be a market opportunity for this type of service, especially as the boomers began to age.

I named my business “Bereavement Navigators”, not a great name for what I do, but after (1) my two friends and I spent a lot of time searching for words to name my business, (2) my FPA of Georgia speech date was looming on the horizon, and (3) I wanted to at least have business cards and a business license prior to my speech, even if I didn’t yet have clients, we settled on this name.

Complete Article HERE!

How to choose and prepare your DPOA, the person who may control the way you die

Man at the Helm, Portrait of Signac, 1892 by Theo van Rysselberghe

By Richard B. Stuart DSW, ABPP
Co-chair Ethics Committee, Swedish/Edmonds Hospital

Getting the end-of-life treatment you want requires cooperation by three people who care. It begins with you creating a living will that describes treatments you do and do not want. Remember that if you lose capacity to speak for yourself before you declare your preferences, you are at risk of undergoing the treatments that may better serve the interests of others than respect your interests. You also need a provider who understands what you want and who will translate your preferences into a Conditional Medical Order (CMO) or Medical Orders for End-of-Life Intervention (MOELI) that can be entered into your medical record to increase the likelihood that the treatment you undergo is the treatment you want to receive. To complete your team, you need a healthcare surrogate (also known as an advocate or proxy) who will request the service you want when you are incapacitated. Your surrogate is like the helmsman who has the vital job of steering the craft over troubled waters by carefully following instructions from the captain. Without a firm hand, the ship will be at the mercy of the sea: it might reach port, but could also crash on a rock. Without a strong surrogate, you could get the care you want, or much more or much less treatment than you desire.

Similar to other states, Washington provides the following guidelines for a Durable Power of Attorney (DPOA) (“durable” because it remains in force after you lose decision-making capacity):

If the decision that the patient would have made if competent cannot be determined, then the authorized person(s) must determine that the proposed health care is in the patient’s best interests. What choice would this particular individual make if he/she were competent?

Based on the patient’s preferences and eccentricities the decision may not be what most people would choose. (RCW 7.70.065(1)(c))

This statute also stipulates that when no DPOA has been authorized, the statutory hierarchy of possible decision makers includes, in order: court-appointed guardian, attorney in fact, spouse or domestic partner, adult children, parents, or adult siblings. The following may not be substitute decision-makers: any of the patient’s physicians or owners, administrators, or employees of treating facilities unless also a spouse, domestic partner, adult child, or sibling.

The attached Step 4 of 6 Steps Living Will (www.6stepslivingwill.org) provides a form for creating a DPOA that includes contact information for principal and backup surrogates. To avoid potential conflict during crises, you should have only one surrogate, with a designated second person who can step in if the first is indisposed. It also allows for designation of those people you do not want to allow to participate in critical care discussions despite their being legally authoried to do so. Notarization of the document is recommended, but verification by the signature of a witness who is not your doctor, an employee of the facility in which you receive care, or an heir can suffice. It is important to check the requirements in any state in which you expect your DPOA to be used.

Since your life is in your surrogate’s hands, it is essential to choose your advocate wisely. Many people unthinkingly pick a partner or other relative, but the person closest to you may not be the one who can do the best job for you. I have witnessed situations in which the wheels fall off the tracks when surrogates were too emotional to speak during critical discussions, clearly did not understand the issues, were unreachable, or were either so argumentative that they alienated providers or so acquiescent that they let providers do as they wish.

A good surrogate has at least the following 7 characteristics: (1) knows you well and understands your core values, (2) has sufficient health literacy to understand the meaning of treatment alternatives and their effects, (3) is willing to put time into learning the details about each option, (4) is reachable so you can communicate any changes in your plans and so your surrogate can be contacted to participate in critical care decision-making, (5) has enough emotional control in pressured situations to be able to think clearly and collaborate, (6) is willing to control personal bias and allow your values to guide decisions, and (7) meets the standard of mental capacity. In the state of Washington, surrogates cannot be your physician or employees of the facilities in which you receive care. Other states may have additional restrictions.

Before creating a DPO, it is important to raise the following questions with the person you would like to name as your surrogate to make sure your preferences will be presented effectively. (1) “What did you hear me request?” This question is important because people often hear what they want to hear rather than what the other person says. Inviting your surrogate to participate in discussions that create the orders is an excellent first step toward this understanding. Doing so also allows your surrogate to get answers to any questions that may augment understanding during decision-making crises. It also allows your provider and surrogate to meet, which can facilitate challenging discussions. It is also important to continue the discussion with your surrogate over time to offer a reminder of what you want and alert your surrogate to any changes. (2 and 3) “If you were in my condition, which treatment(s) would you choose for yourself?” And “How do the choices you would make for yourself differ from those I made?” These questions are essential as a way to differentiate your preferences from what your surrogate would choose so yours prevail. (4) “Did I direct you to limit choices strictly to terms in my CMO or MOELI or did I give you the authority to add your own perspective or that of others you may consult?” Since critical care options are rarely black or white and the trajectories toward death are variable, there is often room for discussion. Make clear whether you grant some latitude, and if you do, stress that the final decision must accord with your values. (5) “How would you respond if a provider or significant other urged you to override my choices?” You want to be sure that your surrogate will choose the course you want and will resist pressure to do otherwise. I have seen providers say things like, “when my mother was critically ill, this is what I decided….” Statements like this are coercive and totally inappropriate because they put surrogates on the spot, with the implication that doing anything else is uncaring. These “what…if” discussions can be great training.

End-of-life treatment decisions are emotional for all concerned, and passionate objections can be raised that threaten family ties. For example, one son might argue that “Dad is a fighter and wants everything possible done” while his brother believes that “Dad has put up a good fight and now wants to end his life with dignity before pain and incoherence destroy his identity”. In another family, while discussing their sibling’s critical care, one sister who considers pain “interesting and endurable” might want treatment prolonged while the other believes one should “meet death standing up” and be allowed to die without having become disoriented when immobilized and attached to multiple irritating tubes. It is important to accept the fact that everyone is entitled to an opinion. But when one insists that others must agree, families can irreparably fall apart due to the impact of intense battles that could have been avoided by the clearly written statement of the patient’s wishes. If possible, a high level of understanding and agreement can result from inviting all interested parties to join a meeting in which the patient and provider lay out the logic of the patient’s choice.

Living wills, CMOs, and MOELIs are wonderful documents. But they may not have any impact on the treatment you undergo if you did not choose a surrogate wisely and helped that person prepare to act in your interests when decisions must be made quickly during medical crises.

Additional resources

Standardizing Protection of Patients’ Rights From POLST to MOELI (Medical Orders for End-of-Life Intervention).
Stuart RB, Thielke S.J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2017 Sep 1;18(9):741-745. doi: 10.1016/j.jamda.2017.04.022. Epub 2017 Jun 13.PMID: 28623154

Use of conditional medical orders to minimize moral, ethical, and legal risk in critical care.
Stuart RB, Birchfield G, Little TE, Wetstone S, McDermott J.J Healthc Risk Manag. 2022 Jan;41(3):14-23. doi: 10.1002/jhrm.21487. Epub 2021 Nov 17.PMID: 34791745

Here is a sample:

DURABLE POWER OF ATTORNEY FOR HEALTHCARE

Preparing your loved ones for when you are no longer there

It is essential to ensure that all your affairs are in order to avoid your family having to scurry around when you die.

By Tian Ebersohn

Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the virus has spread worldwide like wildfire, and millions of people have been affected by the unexpected death of a loved one. Nobody wants to think about death, but ask yourself this question right now – what if I were to die today? Would your loved ones be plunged into chaos and uncertainty and have to deal with this on top of the trauma of your passing?

In order to protect your loved ones from this harsh reality, you might want to apply the following practical guidelines while you’re still alive.

It is essential to ensure that all your affairs are in order, to avoid your spouse and family or your next of kin having to scurry around in the event of your death.

  • Put together a “life file” that contains all your important documents and information, along with a full list of, for example, your assets and liabilities, credit insurance, policies, usernames and passwords, as well as your executor and financial advisor’s contact details.
  • Ensure that you have a valid will in place.
  • Should you not wish to be kept alive artificially you might consider having a living will drawn up. A living will is an instruction to medical practitioners and your next of kin regarding your wishes if the difficult decision to turn off the machines that are keeping you alive must be taken. If you are a registered organ donor, you can also put this fact on record in your living will.
  • Your loved ones need to be aware of your wishes regarding cremation or burial, the details of any funeral cover you may have, and whom to contact when the inevitable happens.

The suggestions that follow might sound trivial, but make sure your spouse and family know how everything works in and around the house.

  • Be certain that your spouse has access to sufficient funds to cover all expenses for at least six to eight months. Most of us are aware of the challenges facing the Master’s offices nationwide, and estates are taking longer to be wound up.
  • Your spouse needs to start building up their own credit record in your lifetime to be able to qualify for services and utilities, a cell phone contract, a mortgage or a hire purchase agreement after your death, if not already.
  • Check that beneficiaries have been nominated for all your life policies, where necessary, and that nomination forms have been completed in respect of any annuities and group insurance you may have.
  • It is a good idea for your spouse to meet with your financial advisor and start building a relationship of trust between them so that the advisor can provide professional advice on your spouse’s future once you are longer there.
  • Have business continuity discussions with partners / next of kin to manage continuity and risks.
  • Ensure liquidity in the estate to pay administration costs, liabilities and taxes that will become due.

Using the above basic guidelines will have a positive effect and make the transition easier for all concerned.

Some guidelines for the surviving spouse to manage financial expectations:

  • Adequate funds are unlikely to be a major problem for your surviving spouse if you have managed your affairs well during your lifetime. This includes having made provision for life insurance so that there will be sufficient income to cover the expenses, as well as having set up a network of competent and reliable people to provide your spouse with professional advice.
  • If the surviving spouse is in the unfortunate position of having insufficient funds, careful planning must be done to provide for the basic expenses such as rent or a mortgage, as well as utility bills, food and insurance premiums.

It is important for your spouse to receive advice from a financial advisor – one with whom a good relationship has already been established – on investments, cash flow and how a basic budget (income and expenses) work. The financial advisor will assist here with a new plan to secure your spouse’s future.

  • Don’t be in a rush to make major financial decisions straight away. Something that sounds like a good idea right now will not necessarily seem so wise in six months or a year.
  • People are living longer and provisions must be made for the available funds to generate an adequate income. Ensure that the quantum of life insurance is determined in line with a properly prepared cash flow projection.
  • A surviving spouse should update their will in order to make provision for guardians, trusts and the like.

People often make poor financial decisions during the mourning process and therefore it is important to obtain reliable professional advice ahead of time in order to help you make well-informed choices, both for your benefit and for your family’s future.

Complete Article HERE!

Living-Will, Advanced Directives Can Be Saved in a New Video App

By: Kathleen Gaines

End-of-life decisions may be amongst the hardest decisions any family member might have to make for a hospitalized loved one. But with the proper advanced health care directives, it can make those decisions easier and less confusing. Unfortunately, most patients do not have advanced directives, especially those in the younger generations. The reality is that unless someone has a terminal illness or works in healthcare, they may not even know what an advanced directive is.

MIDEO Card is changing the conversation.

A revolutionary new app, MIDEO Card which stands for My Informed Decision on VidEO, is a video advance directive as well as a video medical order for life-sustaining treatment. The video is in the patient’s own words and has been formulated to translate all wishes into medical provider understanding.

What is an Advanced Directive?

Generally, advanced directives are done via a paper form that can be filled out in the hospital or online and printed. These forms discuss life-sustaining medical treatment and prolonging life.

According to the American Cancer Society, “life-sustaining medical treatment is any medical intervention, medication, or anything mechanical or artificial that sustains, restores that would prolong the dying process for a terminally ill patient.” These may include :

  • Breathing machines
  • CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) including use of an AED (automated external defibrillator)
  • Medications such as antibiotics
  • Nutrition and hydration (food and liquids) given through feeding tubes or IVs

Once an advanced directive has been filled out it then needs to be given to your healthcare provider and placed into your health file. This can be problematic, especially in the case of an emergency. If an advanced directive is completed at home and never given to the primary healthcare team, it is possible that no one will know a patient’s true end-of-life wishes. Furthermore, if the patient is taken to a hospital out of state or not associated with their primary healthcare provider, then there will not be accessible to the advanced directive.

This is problematic.

MIDEO eliminates this by creating a digital footprint for the advanced directive and allows all providers access to it regardless of the healthcare system or state. It’s all done with a QR code and smart device.

According to a 2017 study, of 795,909 people in the 150 studies analyzed, 36.7 percent had completed an advance directive, including 29.3 percent with living wills. The proportions of terminal individuals to healthy individuals were similar. Based on this large study as well as others, it is evident that end-of-life discussions are essential to properly care for patients.

“Improving end-of-life care has been a national conversation for some time now, presumably because it will affect all of us at some point and is a very personal matter,” said senior study author Dr. Katherine Courtright of the Fostering Improvement in End-of-Life Decision Science Program at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

Why MIDEO?

MIDEO is designed to allow patients to directly speak their wishes with a representative and is stored on a digital identification card.

MIDEO takes the planning and consultation out of the hands of the hospital and hospital healthcare providers. MIDEO has a team of healthcare specialists that work with patients to find the options that are not only personalized but also the best for them and their loved ones.

As hospitals continue to feel the strain of the ongoing pandemic and nursing shortage, there are fewer and fewer resources dedicated to informing patients about advance directives and end-of-life decisions. MIDEO is helping to remove the strain.

Currently, there are three options available for MIDEO Card. Each provides a personalized virtual meeting with a specialist to discuss all aspects of advance directives and end-of-life wishes.

Essential Package (designed for healthy individuals):

  • Includes a standardized guided process with a Qualified Healthcare Professional to create your safety statement
  • 2 Copies of the Identification Cards.

Vital Package (designed for individuals with multiple medical problems or ages 60 & above):

  • Includes a guided process and detailed healthcare evaluation with a Board Certified Physician to create your safety statement
  • 2 Copies of the Identification Cards.

VIP Healthcare Concierge Advocate (designed for Individuals (e.g.: those with cancer) Who Require Navigation Through the Complex Medical System Who Have Specific Goals to Be Achieved): 

  • Includes the Vital Package, but also includes a designated Concierge Physician Advocate who will be available to assist and provide guidance 24 hours a day.

While there is a fee associated with the use of MIDEO Card, most major health insurance plans including Managed Medicare and Medicare with supplemental insurance plans have covered the cost of MIDEO in full or for a small co-pay.

As of January 1, 2016, Medicare-approved billing codes allow individuals to receive Advance Care Planning Education & Counseling. Commonly, this is considered the end of Life planning or counseling.

How It Works?

According to the website, the MIDEO video is accessed by any type of smart device including a smartphone and/or tablet. The camera feature scans the QR code technology on the MIDEO ID card of the patient. The video is then quickly retrieved within seconds in a safe and secure manner. 

MIDEO suggests informing all healthcare providers of the QR code and having it stored in your patient file so that it can be accessed immediately if needed. 

The video aspect is essential to the success of MIDEO and the future of advanced directives and end-of-life planning. Because many states allow individuals to complete advanced directives online without assistance, it is possible that individuals do not fully understand the choices presented to them or that they can make their own that are listed.

“As I like to say, the form is only as good as the conversation and the shared understanding that goes along with it,” said Dr. Rebecca Sudore of the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine who wasn’t involved in the study.

“Some people do fill out these forms with families or lawyers, and then the forms sit in the dusty recesses of a back drawer and they are not available or shared with family and friends, especially before they are needed,” she told Reuters Health by email.

As Americans live longer, especially with chronic medical conditions, and healthcare continues to make advancements against the fight of once terminal diagnoses, it is essential that individuals make their end-of-life wishes known to not only their families but also to their healthcare providers. MIDEO Card takes away the guesswork. It leaves a lasting gift to families and loved ones having to make difficult decisions.

Complete Article HERE!

Should You Get a POLST?

These portable medical orders give the seriously ill more control over their care

Blake Anderson, 64, lives with numerous medical conditions, including chronic back pain, the rheumatic disease ankylosing spondylitis, other autoimmune conditions affecting his tendons and nerves, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a lymphatic cancer. But although he is disabled and in pain, he says he deeply values life and has no wish to end his.

Residing in a board-and-care facility in Carlsbad, California, he has good friends and enjoys reading, conversation, learning new things and traveling the world via the Internet. But he also has a POLST form, signed by his doctor, spelling out the treatments he would not want to receive in the event of a medical crisis in which he could no longer speak for himself. Were his heart to stop beating, he would not want medical personnel to try to resuscitate him.

POLST is a medical form completed by a doctor, nurse practitioner or physician assistant in consultation with the patient. It allows people with serious or chronic illnesses or the frailties of age to spell out what kinds of medical care they would want to be given in potential future medical emergencies.

Unlike legal documents such as the more familiar living will or other advance directives, which can be completed by those in good health, POLST is for when a serious diagnosis is known to the patient. It is more likely to be recognized, read and honored by emergency responders who show up for that potential emergency, such as a heart attack, when someone calls 911.

And, POLST advocates say, it’s not just about saying no to interventions such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Some POLST documents may detail that the person does not want to go back to the hospital or be put on a ventilator. Other orders might note a trial period to see whether aggressive treatments would be successful. But patients can express their treatment preferences, including for doctors to “do everything” medically feasible to keep them alive, if that is what they wish. Ideally, the POLST form signed by the doctor is copied to the patient’s electronic health record and given to close family members and the patient’s named surrogate decision maker for health care decisions.

Bright pink (or green) forms

Anderson’s doctor, Karl Steinberg, M.D., a geriatrician and hospice/palliative medicine physician in Oceanside, California, who makes home visits for Scripps Health, visited him at home to talk about POLST. “When he found out that I would not want to be resuscitated, Dr. Steinberg told me about the bright pink form I could fill out and put up on my wall where it could clearly be seen,” Anderson says. “I didn’t know there was such a form until Dr. Steinberg told me. It took some worry out of [the medical situation] for me.”

Anderson says he feels he is doing well, all things considered. “I know there’s no cure for any of my diagnoses.” Were he to die of a sudden heart attack, he says, he would want to be left in peace. “In fact, I’d call POLST the ‘rest in peace’ form.”

Steinberg told Anderson that discussing goals for medical care is a routine part of his visits with older patients. “I’m a big proponent of POLST in my practice,” he says. But patients shouldn’t be shy about bringing it up to their doctors or talking about it with their families. CPR is not what it looks like on TV, Steinberg adds. “Most people with serious illness don’t survive even the initial procedure, much less get back to a condition of full, active life.” One analysis of over 433,000 Medicare beneficiaries 65 or older who underwent CPR in U.S. hospitals found the chances of surviving and being discharged were about 18 percent.

Honoring patients’ preferences

Devised in Oregon in the early 1990s by medical ethicists and clinicians who had discovered that patients’ preferences for care at the end of life were not being consistently honored, the typically brightly colored, letter-sized POLST form has since spread to most states (and to locations in more than 20 countries) in a variety of versions and names and stages of development.

It has become mainstream, at least among health professionals. The original name, “physician orders for life-sustaining treatment,” is sometimes replaced by “portable medical orders” or simply “POLST.” The National POLST office, which is leading efforts to standardize its dissemination and promote recommended national language for the states to follow, calls POLST a process and a conversation as well as a form.

POLST has a specific place in medical planning, adds Judy Thomas, CEO of the Coalition for Compassionate Care of California (CCCC), the home for implementing POLST in California. In recent years CCCC has worked to standardize POLST statewide, she says. “We also got it established in statute, which has helped to make health care providers more comfortable with it, knowing they were complying with the law.”

CCCC has also developed training for health care providers on how to have conversations about POLST with consumers and taught hundreds of people to go out and train others. POLST is becoming better known, and more people have seen it used for a loved one, Thomas says. California’s 2021–2022 budget included funds to develop a statewide electronic registry of POLST forms.

In Oregon, with its three decades of experience with POLST, nearly half the people who die of natural causes have a POLST form in that state’s electronic registry, password-protected and accessible to EMS personnel and emergency care physicians, says Susan W. Tolle, M.D., a professor of medicine and director of the Center for Ethics at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland.

“If we could encourage people to take a deep breath and step forward and say, ‘I really want to talk about this,’ it could trigger conversations in their families. COVID is one more reason why we need to talk about it now,” she says.

“It is a true gift if you can engage in advance care planning, which would help your loved ones feel they know what you would want in a crisis and that they are doing what you would have wanted,” Tolle explains. “They won’t have to wake up at 2 a.m. and wonder if they did the right thing.”

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