Are You Ready for a Health Emergency?

It’s another theme day here at the b5media Science & Health Channel, and it’s all about emergency preparedness. Tris Hussey, the not-so-homely mind behind The Homely Scientist is hosting this month, so be sure to check out the other contributions.

Now, back to my original question: Are you ready for a health emergency? “Gee, Kristen, what’s a health emergency?” I’m so glad you asked! A health emergency is any kind of unexpected health crisis, anything from a heart attack or a stroke to a car accident or accidental poisoning — whatever you can think of. In some of these cases, you may be able to make your own decisions about your care. But what if you’re unconscious or unable to communicate?

No matter how old you are, a living will and advance medical directive that encompass your healthcare wishes are critical to ensure that you receive the highest quality of care and that which you’re most comfortable with. For instance, my husband and both of our immediate families know how I feel about blood transfusions (no!), organ donation (yes!), life support (yes, if there’s a chance of recovery!), and experimental/alternative treatment approaches (medical and herbal approaches, yes! spiritual or spiritistic treatments, no!). They may agree with some of those designations and not with others, but they all know what I want, and they’ve all agreed to respect those choices.

But before your family members or other medical decisions makers in the event of a medical crisis can respect your wishes, they have to know what those wishes are. The issues I mentioned above — blood transfusions, organ transplantation, life support, and experimental/alternative treatments — are the big four, but there are other important issues that you need to make decisions on as well, and so should your spouse/significant other/parents/children/etc.

For maximim coverage and legal-ness, you need to consult a lawyer, and you definitely need to talk with your doctor to make sure the choices you’re making are most appropriate for your personal needs. As a talking point, check out these resources for your advance medical directive and living will options:

• MedicineNet.com’s Definition of advance medical directives
• The Wall Street Journal’s Advance Directives by State
• MedLawPlus.com’s Living Will Form (Advance Medical Directive)
• FamilyDoctor.org’s Advance Directives and Do Not Resuscitate Orders
• Understanding Your Living Will: What You Need to Know Before a Medical Emergency
• How to Write Your Own Living Will (Legal Survival Guides)
• The Easy Will and Living Will Kit: A Simple Plan Everyone Should Have

Now, get cracking! I don’t want to scare you or anything, but your life really depends on it.

Contents © Copyright 2007 Kristen King