South Australians will soon be able to complete their advance care directives – legal documents that express a person’s health care, residential, accommodation and personal wishes in the event of future loss of decision-making capacity – as an all-in-one form.
Sandra Bradley (pictured), a PhD candidate at Flinders, says new South Australian legislation will simplify the process of allowing people to express their wishes about their future healthcare and living arrangements in advance.
The form will also allow for the appointment of trusted substitute decision-makers to make such decisions when a person is unable to do so themselves.
Once the new Act commences (likely to be mid-2014), it will replace the three current forms – the Enduring Power of Guardianship, Medical Power of Attorney and Anticipatory Direction, also known as a ‘living will’ – with a single form. The new Advance Care Directive will be able to be completed in hard copy or online.
Ms Bradley, a former palliative care nurse, is conducting research into the effectiveness of on-line methods in encouraging baby boomers to complete advance care directives.
“This legislation will give people a way to exercise some control over future decisions. We are now looking at how to increase people’s awareness of it and how to encourage its uptake.”
Ms Bradley said her previous professional experience with terminally ill patients showed her the importance of patients discussing with their families what they value in terms of their quality of life in advance of lost capacity.
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“Clearly expressed wishes give substitute decision-makers and families – and also the health care professionals involved – the confidence to take actions they know are appropriate to respect the wishes and values of the person concerned at a time when the person cannot voice their decisions personally,” she said.
For her research project, which is supported by CareSearch, the palliative care knowledge network based at Flinders, Ms Bradley is seeking participants born between 1946 and 1964 to complete four 30-minute online surveys. No travel or face-to-face meeting is required.
People interested in participating should contact Ms Bradley by email at [email protected]
Ms Bradley will also be a panellist at a public forum that will explain and promote the new Advance Care Directives Act on July 16. The forum, conducted by the SA branch of the Australasian Bioethics and Health Law Society, begins at 10am in the Hawke Building of the University of South Australia’s City West campus. The panel includes ethicists, policy makers, academics and a legal practitioner.
