Topic Resources

TREATMENT DECISION MAKING

Patient and Family resources

American Bar Association (Home Page): www.abanet.org
Home Page
Search for "Advance Directives".
(202) 434-2277
American Bar Association Commission on Law and Aging. Consumer's tool kit for health care advance planning. The Tool Kit focuses on and clarifies issues regarding health care agent or proxy selection, "after death decisions" that have to be considered before death; a guide for health care agents; etc. The 10 tools are PDF files.

American Association of Retired People: www.aarp.org
American Association for Retired People. AARP Legal Counsel for the Elderly. This website has a range of documents that would be helpful for the patient, family and health care provider. Topics include: differentiating between a living will and medical or health care power of attorney; how to get conversation going in talking about care at the end of life.

Last Acts. Fact Sheets: http://www.caringinfo.org
(2001). Thinking Ahead: Advance planning foe end-of-life care
(2001). Decision making isn't just a family matter: Legal issues in end-of-life care
(2001). When patients cannot eat or drink: Artificial Nutrition and Hydration
(2001). Care beyond Cure: Palliative care and Hospice. This website also describes State Initiatives on End of Life Care-Focus: Pain management.

Aging with Dignity. Five wishes advance directive. Legally accepted in 31 states and growing, this advance directive combines features of a health Care Proxy and Living Will. It also lets family and physician know the comfort measures a person wants (i.e., pain and symptom relief); how the person wants to be treated (e.g., have someone hold their hand; read to them); what they want their loved ones to know (about forgiving and forgiveness; about fear and peacefulness). The document is distributed by many houses of worship, healthcare and legal professionals, social service agencies, employers.

End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC)www.aacn.nche.edu/elnec

Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Home Page: http://www.cdc.gov/
Home Page
Tool Kit:
 Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Health Sciences Ethics Program, University of New Mexico. (June 1998). Values history form packet. Can assist the patient/client/consumer identify and talk about what is important to him/her with regard to goals for the future; sources of pleasure and meaning; the role of family and friends; the value and importance of being independent; spiritual beliefs; relationships with the health professions; thoughts about illness, dying and death; finances; funeral plans.

League for the Hard of Hearing - http://www.lhh.org/

Merck Institute on Aging and Health http://www.miahonline.org/
Nurses Notes: Healthcare Decision-Making: Being Proactive is Best

National Institutes of Health: Health Information: http://health.nih.gov/

U.S. National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health: Medline Plus Links to multiple governmental, private, and professional web sites: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/

United States Department of Health and Human Services: Home Page: http://www.hhs.gov/

Prentiss Care Networks Project (Care Networks for Formal and Informal Caregivers of Older Adults) http://caregiving.case.edu


Last updated - November 2005