Advance Directives are legal documents that allow you to convey your preferences about end-of-life care ahead of time.
Living Will & Power of Attorney Form: In Utah these two directives are combined into one easy form. If yours is older than January 2008 you need to fill out this new one.
Funeral Planning Form. Discuss your preferences with your family. Better yet, fill out your plans together.
Agent to Control Disposition Form If your next of kin don't agree or cannot carry out your funeral plans, do not worry, just assign a specific person to control the disposition of your remains.
Your Organ Donor Directive is specified on your Utah drivers license or state ID. You can edit your organ donor preferences on the website yesutah.org using your drivers license number. If you, a relative or a friend has registered YES to being a donor don't get ripped off:
- Mortuaries list on their price list a charge for organ donor repair BUT Intermountain Donor Services is supposed to pay that fee.
- No agency follows-up to make sure that Mortuaries are not billing both you and IDS.
- You can specify what organs or tissues you want exempt from harvesting on the donor registry website. One person wrote in their specifications: "I want my family or friends to be able to carry out my funeral and body transport without a funeral director. So only remove those organs and tissue that allow my body to be completely sutured and sealed by the organ recovery team."
Lots of Time to Plan Ahead?
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Life insurance or Savings
There are 5 major ways to finance a funeral with insurance or savings. See short clear info on this at: www.FCANT.org Click on Information, then FAQ #17
Links
Mayo Clinic: Living wills and advance directives for medical decisions
U.S. National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health:
Advance Directives (has a lot of links to other resources)
An article in Newsweek said that nearly 1/3 of the cost of Medicare for an individual occurs in the last two years of ones life. Some studies indicate that Americans are overtreated by 30%. Making decisions in advance can help avoid unnecessary costs and actually improve your quality of life. The article recommends that we draft living-wills to make our desires known.
You don't have to be on your last leg to benefit from having an Advance Directive. Everyone benefits in case of accident or sudden illness:
- Others will know what you want
- Family will be less likely to argue over the care you should receive
- Doctors will be less likely to bankrupt you with unnecessary treatment
