This
section contains important information about medical decision making.
Please discuss it with your health care team.
Introduction
Hospitals are required to provide all adult patients with information on:
(1) their rights to make decisions in regard to their medical care;
(2) their right to make an "advance directive"; and
(3) the hospital’s policies regarding such rights.
This material has been prepared to provide you with this information. We hope it is helpful to you.
Please talk to your physicians, nurses or other providers at the hospital if you have any questions.
Translators are available for assistance in reviewing this information. If you would like more information on translations, and are calling from outside the hospital, please call (202)-5758932. If you are calling from within the hospital, please call 233.
Overview
Thinking Ahead
There may come a time when you are seriously injured or become gravely ill, and are unable to make decisions about your own medical care. Your family, friends, and caregivers may have to make decisions on your behalf about the nature and intensity of the medical care you receive, including decisions about whether or not you are kept alive on life-support systems. While advances in medical technology have saved many lives, sometimes these treatments are futile, or sometimes the burdens of the treatment outweigh the benefits. You may have your own views as to what treatment you want if you become unable to make decisions on your own behalf. Your family and others may not be aware of these wishes. Without knowing what you would want, your family and others may find it hard to make decisions for you.
Giving Advance Instructions
You can help ensure that your wishes are followed, and help those who will have to make decisions on your behalf, by taking steps now.
You can name someone (for example, someone who is close to you, such as a spouse or close friend) to serve as your "health care agent" and make medical decisions for you if you become unable to make these decisions yourself. However, setting limits on your health care agent’s authority might make it difficult for your agent to act for you in a situation that you have not anticipated. Therefore, rather than including specific instructions, you may want to provide your agent with flexible guidelines, either through discussions with your agent or by means of a separate document clearly labeled "Guidelines Only".
Discussing the Issues
Because it is difficult to anticipate what kind of medical care you might want in the event of a future illness, you are encouraged to discuss the medical issues with your physician. You are also encouraged to talk to your health care agent about your values and what kind of medical care you might want—or not want—in certain circumstances.
For example, you might want to discuss with your doctor and your health care agent the circumstances under which you would want to be revived if your heart and breathing stop, and when you would want various forms of life-support (such as breathing tubes and machines, and feeding tubes). You should also consider discussing the kind, and intensity, of treatment you would want if you become unconscious and are not expected to recover. Among the forms of treatment that may be offered to you in various circumstances are: respirators, artificial nutrition and hydration, and kidney dialysis. Definitions of these and other forms of life-sustaining treatment are contained in the attached appendix.
You might also want to discuss with your physician and agent how important certain things are to you such as: (1) having the ability to communicate with family and friends; (2) having your life prolonged, even if machines are necessary; (3) following the wishes of your family; (4) the quality of your life; and (5) the cost of your care.
You should know that your physicians, nurses and other caregivers at the Cairo Kidney Center will always provide comfort care and treatment for pain.
If you would like further information about these policies, please ask your physician, nurses or other health care providers at the hospital.
