e-mail address:
hospicerc@triadbiz.rr.com

This agency is accredited by
Accreditation Commission for Health Care, Inc
 www.achc.org

What is an Advance Directive?

An "advance directive" is a set of directions you give about the health care you want if you ever lose the ability to make these decisions for yourself.  Among the ways North Carolina has for you to make a formal advance directive are a "living will," and "health care power of attorney."** 

A Living Will is a declaration that you desire to die a natural death should you be terminally and incurably sick or in a persistent vegetative state from which you will not recover.  In a living will you can direct your doctor not to use heroic treatments that would delay your dying or to stop such treatments if they have been started.  You can also direct your doctor not to begin or to stop artificial nutrition or hydration (i.e. food and/or water through a tube).

A Health Care Power of Attorney allows you to name a person to make medical care decisions for you if you later become unable to make such decisions.  This person is called your "health care agent."  In this legal document, you name exactly who you want your agent to be.  You can also say what medical treatments you would and would not want.  Your health care agent then knows what choices you would make.  Your health care agent should be an adult you trust and you should discuss your wishes with them before your put them in writing.

For additional information on advance directives, please feel free to call the Hospice office at (336) 427-9022 or visit The Carolinas Center website at www.carolinasendoflifecare.org or the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization website at www.nhpco.org.

For links to other organizations and information, please visit our Resources page.

**An advance directive from another state may not meet all of North Carolina's criteria.  To be certain, you may want to have your lawyer review your advance directive from another state to confirm its validity in North Carolina.