ADVANCE
DIRECTIVES FOR MEDICAL CARE
Facebook Seminar
Most people wish they had Advance
Directives,
but only 20-30% of the people who die in the USA had any writings
describing how they wanted to live the last chapter of their lives.
Getting
started is a major obstacle.
It is so easy to put off
planning for death.
We keep telling ourselves we will do it 'later'.
This free Facebook Seminar offers a leisurely way
to undertake the process of making medical plans.
We will not attempt to write Answers that suit everyone.
Rather, each individual will be encouraged to write
very specific Answers that might be appropriate only for him or her.
Once we have drafted our Answers,
we will share our end-of-life plans
with the persons we choose to be our proxies.
It would make good sense for our proxies
also to join this Facebook
Seminar.
Our proxies should have their own
Advance Directives for Medical Care.
If we are going to be proxies for one another,
why not create our Advance Directives together?
If, as proxies, we might be called upon to put these plans into
effect,
we will make certain we understand what each Answer means.
The discussions of this Facebook Seminar will take
place at our computers.
We are not required to be in the same place at the same time.
Any convenient time during the week will work.
And even if your prospective proxies live far
away,
they can still participate by means of e-mail
and posting comments to our Facebook Group.
Our Facebook Seminar will discuss 24
open-ended Questions:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/aws-website-jamesleonardpark---freelibrary-3puxk/Q-L-WILL.html
Each
week we will ask and answer one
Question.
Is it too demanding to expect each participant
to write at least one sentence each week?
Once that first sentence appears on paper or on your screen,
then other ideas might follow.
Another meaningful advantage of doing this seminar
on Facebook
is that we can gather participants from all over the Earth.
Different countries of the world have different laws
concerning how patients should be treated at the end of
life.
But the same issues arise for all of us,
no matter where we live and
die on our planet.
Our discussions will take place in the English
language,
but persons from non-English-speaking countries
will be welcome to participate.
Such participants might be bi-lingual.
And they can share with everyone the different traditions
they might have in their countries concerning medical care
and other end-of-life customs and practices.
Perhaps they must write their Advance Directives in another language.
But such cross-cultural problems might be enlightening for us all.
After participants have written their general
Answers
using their own words (rather than copying someone else),
these Answers can be cited in the documents provided
for those jurisdictions where they might come to the end of their
lives.
Surprisingly, this becomes a quick and easy task
if the forms provided by government are used as tables of contents
for the Answers already written.
For each space on any Advance Directive form,
you can say, see my Answers 3, 7, 10, etc.
Participants will be encouraged (but not required)
to read a book that explores each Question comprehensively:
Your Last Year:
Creating Your Own Advance
Directive for Medical Care:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/aws-website-jamesleonardpark---freelibrary-3puxk/AD-OUT-NET.html
This book will be available both as a
printed-and-bound book
and as an electronic text, which you can read on a computer screen.
This Facebook Seminar will be led by the author of
this book,
James Leonard Park.
And he is happy to share with the world
his own Answers to the Questions:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/aws-website-jamesleonardpark---freelibrary-3puxk/JP-LW.html
These Answers will probably be too detailed and
specific
for others to copy them.
And that is intentional.
Each person should write his or her own Answers
in his or her own words.
The beginning of my Advance Directive
explains how others may use my words.
Also, the draft-Answers written by members of this
Seminar
might be found helpful by other members of our Facebook Group.
But we will not attempt to create Answers to fit all who will die.
Several other resources for creating Advance
Directives
will be found in the distant learners section of the following
comprehensive course description:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/aws-website-jamesleonardpark---freelibrary-3puxk/D-LWW.html
And here is the direct link to our Facebook Group,
"Advance Directives for Medical Care":
https://facebook.com/groups/1508418262713314/
Over two billion people on Earth are already "on
Facebook".
Registration with Facebook is free and easy:
All one needs is an e-mail address and a password:
http://www.facebook.com.
Once you are on the Facebook website,
search for our Group by name:
"Advance Directives for Medical Care"
or click this link:
https://facebook.com/groups/1508418262713314/
Click the "request membership" button to join.
Only real persons with at least rudimentary profiles will be admitted.
(This
screening is to avoid spammers,
who are not interesting in writing their own Advance Directives
but only trying to sell us something or to steal our identities.)
Once you are a member of this seminar on Advance Directives,
be sure to set your Notifications to "All Posts".
Then Facebook will send you all of the comments
by the other members of this electronic seminar.
Invite your prospective proxies and other family and
friends
to join our interactive seminar.
We can begin as soon as we have about 100 people
ready to begin writing (or revising) their own Advance Directives.
Several free resources for creating Advance
Directives
will be found on the Portal
for Advance
Directives for Medical Care.
Created
May 19, 2014; Revised 5-22-2014; 6-4-2014; 10-24-2014; 3-7-2015;
3-12-2015; 8-14-2015; 11-29-2016;