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Medical Ethics

Fidelity, Wisdom & Love: Patients and Proxies In Partnership

A step-by-step guide to advance care planning

To help you appoint a healthcare proxy and have meaningful conversations about your preferences for end-of-life care, Joseph J. Fins, M.D. and Barbara Maltby, M.A. of the Division of Medical Ethics at Weill Medical College of Cornell University have created educational materials on advance care planning for individuals and for use in group workshops.

The interactive WORKBOOK leads you though the process of appointing the best person to be your health care proxy. It also contains four end-of-life scenarios to help you and your proxy talk about the kinds of decisions you would want made.

The companion VIDEO provides support for such conversations by showing how one patient and proxy use these scenarios to prepare each other for decision making.

To order the Workbook at Amazon.com:
CLICK HERE

To Order the Video (with or without the booklet) please email, call or write:
Division of Medical Ethics
Weill Cornell Medical College
435 East 70th Street, Suite 4J
Phone: (212) 746-4246
E-mail: cacres@med.cornell.edu

Why it is so important to have a healthcare proxy

Many people find it difficult to talk about the kind of care they want at the end of life. But there may come a time when you are too sick to make your own decisions. Unless your family and friends understand your wishes for care ahead of time, they will not know what choices to make on your behalf. And without completing an advance directive, that is, filling out a healthcare proxy form or a living will, they may not have the legal power to make decisions about refusal and withdrawal of certain treatments, or be able to advocate effectively for management of pain and other symptoms.

A healthcare proxy is someone you legally appoint to make decisions for you if you cannot make them for yourself. In some states, a healthcare proxy may be known as a healthcare agent or a durable power of attorney for healthcare.

Unlike a living will, which is a written document in which you state your wishes for-or-against life-prolonging treatment, your healthcare proxy is able to talk with those involved in your medical care and use his or her judgment to match your preferences for care with your actual medical circumstances. In other words, your designated and well-prepared proxy has a special authority, the ability to be responsive to specific events and the personal knowledge to represent your wishes and advocate for you effectively.