April 13 Teleconference on Advance Directives.

Thaddeus Pope at Medical Futility Blog reports on a conference that will be held on April 13:

FIVE BIG MYTHS OF ADVANCE CARE PLANNING AND HOW TO STAY ANCHORED IN REALITY

Sponsored by the ABA Health Law Section, the Senior Lawyers Division and the ABA Commission on Law and Aging

Tuesday, April 13 at 2:00-3:30pm Central

This complementary teleconference (and podcast will be posted here afterwards) will address the five biggest myths that plague advance care planning and how to steer clear of them and make advance care planning more effective.

Myths:

1. People should use their state’s official advance directive form(s).
2. Your advance directive should include as specific instructions as possible.
3. Advance Directives are legally binding so doctors have to follow them.
4. Doing everything possible for dad means keeping dad alive at all costs.
5. A written advance directive is better than talk.

Since the mid-1970s, health care advance directives have become the central legal tool to make sure one’s health care wishes are known in a formal way and, it is hoped, followed. However, clinical realities and the medical-social sciences literature over the last 30 years cast doubt on the effectiveness of advance directives. The reality is that directives are just a part of a process of advance care planning that requires more than just a form and a signature. Sometimes forms get in the way.

Panelists:

• Richard Payne, MD, Professor of Medicine and Divinity, Esther Colliflower Director, Duke Institute on Care at the End of Life, Duke University Divinity School
• Charles P. Sabatino, J.D., Director of the American Bar Association’s Commission on Law and Aging