Submitted on Thursday April 23rd, 2015
Once an advance directive for healthcare is complete, most of us want to set it aside as "DONE."
But circumstances, priorities, and preferences all change with time. Consider a review and an update with any of these life events:
- Change in health. Hospitalization or a serious illness may change life priorities and end-of-life wishes. Be sure to revise the advance directive to reflect these changes. Don't forget to share new perspectives with the person who has been chosen to make those decisions (the healthcare agent).
- Age. Is this a "zero" birthday year, starting a new decade of life? That's a great review trigger. But once your relative reaches age 70, you might step up the pace and review the directive on every "even year" birthday (72, 74, 76, and so on).