The Importance of End-of-Life Planning
April 16 is National Healthcare Decisions Day (NHDD), a day set aside to raise awareness for and share resources about the importance of end-of-life planning. I’ve written this blog post to help change the culture and normalize the conversation about death and dying.
My therapy practice, along with other national, state and community organizations, participates in the massive effort to highlight the importance of advance healthcare decision-making—an effort that culminated in the 2008 formal designation of April 16 as National Healthcare Decisions.
Some basic information: An advance directive is a legal document that tells healthcare providers who it is that you wish to make medical decisions for you and what treatments you would want or not want, if you are ever not able to communicate what you want for yourself. It’s free to fill out the forms and doesn’t have to take a long time.
Why is National Healthcare Decisions Day important?
Often, adults who haven’t yet reached advanced age find reasons to put off conversations about their values and priorities at the end of life. Studies have shown that while 80% of adults believe advance healthcare planning is important, less than 25% have actually done so. We might feel squeamish, scared, confused, or in denial about it.
For all adults, regardless of age or current health status, it’s important to do. It’s a huge gift to your loved ones to make your end of life plans clear and known.
If something unexpected happens to you and your preferences aren’t clear, you can inadvertently leave your family in a huge, stressful mess. National Healthcare Decisions Day was originally founded by a healthcare attorney who had spent years on ethics committees dealing with situations when patients failed to make their healthcare wishes known in advance.
How to actually start this conversation with your loved ones? How to broach the topic with your health care professionals? What are state-specific guidelines you need to know about? What forms can you use? One of the best places to go for all the free resources is The Conversation Project. They have everything linked there. Everything. Including a link to a card game (Go Wish, as in rhymes with Go Fish…) that helps you have the conversation about your end of life wishes. So, yes, they have helpful links to everything.
Fun Fact!
Why is National Healthcare Decisions Day on April 16th? As Benjamin Franklin said, “In this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” April 15 is Tax Day… so National Healthcare Decisions Day follows closely behind on April 16.
Please start to complete your advance care planning today (or any day you read this!) and encourage your loved ones to do the same.