Jewish Hospital recognizes Advance Directives Week, offers assistance

Cincinnati - Nobody likes to think about his or her own death, but conversations about death and dying can ensure that your choices are carried out should you be unable to communicate. Gov. Ted Strickland declared Oct. 14 - 20 Living Wills and Advance Directives Week 2007, Living Today, Planning for Tomorrow, which provides an opportunity to put in writing the care you would want to receive.

The Jewish Hospital is one of many Ohio organizations recognizing Living Wills and Advance Directives Week. Members of the public are invited to visit The Jewish Hospital, located at 4777 E. Galbraith Road, main lobby, first floor, on Tuesday, Oct. 16, 9 - 11 a.m.; Wednesday, Oct. 17, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.; and Thursday, Oct. 18, 4 - 6 p.m. Social workers and hospital representatives will explain advance directives and help visitors fill out living wills and health care power of attorneys.

The most common advance directive - a living will - is a legal document that dictates how much life-sustaining treatment an individual wishes to have administered once he or she has been deemed by physicians unable to communicate his or her wishes. A health care power of attorney is another common advance directive in which the individual designates another person to make medical decisions when he or she is unable to communicate wishes but may not be terminally ill or permanently unconscious.

Advance directives are now being written more often. According to a Harris Interactive survey conducted in March, two in five U.S. adults have living wills - an increase of 10 percent since 2004, the year when Terri Shiavo made headlines as her husband and her parents battled in court over removing her feeding tube. Schiavo had been in a prolonged vegetative state when her husband requested the tube be removed in 1998. The case took seven years to resolve. A living will would have made her wishes clear, and a health care power of attorney would have dictated who she wanted to make her health care decisions for her.

In the absence of an advance directive, family members who disagree about end-of-life care can file an objection, leaving care decisions in the hands of a judge. Living Wills and Advance Directives Week, Living Today, Planning for Tomorrow, seeks to ensure adults? decision-making power over their own lives. Discussing wishes with family members and filling out advance directives relieves families from guesswork and potential family disagreement later.

More information, advance directives forms and a list of sponsors of Living Wills and Advance Directives Week are available online at: www.ohanet.org/advocacy/state/issues/advance_directives.htm <http://www.ohanet.org/advocacy/state/issues/advance_directives.htm>.

The Ohio Hospital Association, Ohio Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, the Ohio State Bar Foundation and several other Ohio organizations joined efforts to educate Ohioans regarding the importance of advance directives by designating Oct. 14 -20 Living Wills and Advance Directives Week 2007. Living Wills and Advance Directives Week began as an Ohio State Bar Foundation 2002 Fellows initiative to help Ohioans complete living wills and health care power of attorneys. Nearly 20 cosponsors statewide have joined forces to support the cause, and hospitals across the state were asked to provide educational seminars.

The Jewish Hospital is an acute care hospital located in Cincinnati?s northeast suburbs. It was established in 1850 as the first Jewish hospital in the United States and is part of the Health Alliance, an integrated health care delivery system. To view other Jewish Hospital news releases, go to www.health-alliance.com/pressroom <http://www.health-alliance.com/pressroom>.