Setting up an Advance Health Directive
An Advance Health Directive is a document that states your wishes or directions regarding your future health care for various medical conditions. It comes into effect onlyif you are unable to make your own decisions. You may wish your directive to apply at any time when you are unable to decide for yourself, or you may want it to apply only if you are terminally ill. An Advance Health Directive takes the worry about making critical decisions relating to your health from those close to you.
An Advance Health Directive can be as general or as specific as you want. It may be that there are certain medical procedures that you do not wish performed under any circumstances, for example, because of religious beliefs. You may also want to give instructions about whether you want intervention to keep you alive, or any treatment you want or do not want should your condition be incurable, terminal, irreversible or you are permanently unconscious. An Advance Health Directive is a way of ensuring these decisions are communicated at the critical time.
We would recommend that you ensure you have an Advance Health Directive if you are about to be admitted to hospital for surgery of if you have a medical condition that may deteriorate over time. We are able to assist in the timely preparation of these documents