advanced directives

Advanced Directives
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Advanced directives are written instructions that are legal concerning an individual’s preferences for medical care in case one is incapable of making decisions for themselves. Advanced directives allow people to document their wishes regarding medical treatments at a moment when someone is unable to make these decisions. When someone is in a medical condition that is specified by the state law such as terminal illnesses or permanent unconsciousness, it is vital to have the advanced directive. There are two major types of advanced directives: The Living Will and the Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care (Rossello, 2016). The Living Will is known to be the oldest of all types of advanced directive. This document is signed and witnessed by the physician and other relevant people. The directive instructs that physicians to withdraw medical interventions in case, its signer is in a terminal condition and unable to make decisions regarding treatment. The medical power of attorney allows an individual to select a person that they trust to be their health care agent. The agent has the authority to make medical decisions on someone behalf.
A patient might want to have an advanced directive to ensure that medical decisions are made on his behalf in case he/she is not capable of making those decisions. The medical treatment decisions would be made based on their preferences, and therefore they would receive medical care exactly how they would have wanted it to be if they were in their right mind.

Advanced directives can affect patients, their families as well as their caregivers. Caregivers can sometimes misinterpret advanced directives. This situation can cause the patient to receive medical treatment that is not following their wishes. Sometimes family members cannot make decisions regarding their sick family member since they tend to limit their decisions and opinions.
The podcast episode describes a living will directive policy. This advanced policy is signed by individuals in the right mind so as to ensure that when they are not able to make decisions regarding how to be treated their wishes can be followed. The nurses play the role of encouraging patients who visit the hospital to fill out the policy so as to prevent confusion. The doctor had had an incidence where a patient was terminally ill, and it became hectic for the caregiver and the family members to make a decision about how the patient could be treated.
This idea seems to be working since many residents of La Crosse; Wisconsin has filled out this document. These people are comfortable talking about death. People in this community are worried about those few people who have not filled the advance directive. People are accepting this strategy as they consider it to be a great step of eliminating suffering and distress to families when their family member is in a coma, stroke or on machines (Mazour, 2014).
Utilitarianism is a theory that states that actions are analyzed based on the consequences that they bring to the society. According to this theory is that actions should strive to maximize utility. Actions should, therefore, minimize pain and maximize pleasure or happiness to the greatest number of people. On the other hand, Kantian ethics state that our action should not depend on whether they are right or wrong but they need to achieve our duty. An action should be judged on whether it abides by the universal law.
The utilitarianism theory would try to minimize pain and therefore increase happiness to most people. In this case, it would advocate people to fill the advanced directive to ensure that the patient, families and the caregivers have less stress and pain. On the other hand, Kantian ethics would try to ask if that decision would apply to all humans how would they be affected. The theory would try to analyze whether the advanced directive agrees with the universal moral law. In this case, if all people agree with it and consider it to be ethical then it can apply to all people. In case some people disagree with it, then it would not be noble to encourage people to fill the advanced directive.
I think that advanced directives are ethical. It is proper for people to be allowed to make decisions on whether they should be allowed to live or die when they are terminally ill. The policy should be adopted, and people should be left to make their decisions when they are well regarding their future conditions. People should not be encouraged to register for this policy since it is a great step to alleviating pain and suffering. It also helps to minimize the cost of healthcare so that money and healthcare can be directed to those other people that have a great probability of recovering.
Caregivers need to go over the advanced directive options for those that want to register for the policy. This step will ensure that patients understand all of the options so that they can make wise decisions regarding them. Patients will have a full understanding of the options and their consequences before they can select one of the options.
References
Mazour, D. (2014). The Town Where Everyone Talks About Death. Retrieved from Planet Money: http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2014/03/05/286126451/living-wills-are-the-talk-of-the-town-in-la-crosse-wis
Rossello, J. (2016). Advanced directives: Having the conversation.