This approach may have fewer risks, especially for people with dementia. Hand feeding (sometimes called assisted oral feeding) is an alternative to tube feeding. If tube feeding is still needed for an extended period, a feeding tube may be surgically inserted directly into your stomach. If you are not able to eat, you may be fed through a feeding tube that is threaded through the nose down to your stomach. Using artificial nutrition and hydration near the end of life. People using such a breathing tube are not able to speak without special help because exhaled air does not go past their vocal cords. For long-term help with breathing, a trach is more comfortable, and sedation is not needed. During this bedside surgery, the tube is inserted directly into the trachea through a hole in the neck.
If you are expected to remain on a ventilator for a long time, a doctor may perform a tracheotomy or "trach" (rhymes with "make"). Because the tube is uncomfortable, medicines are often used to keep you sedated while on a ventilator. Putting the tube down the throat is called intubation. A tube connected to the ventilator is put through the throat into the trachea (windpipe) so the machine can force air into the lungs. Ventilators are machines that help you breathe. Using a ventilator as emergency treatment. Often, CPR does not succeed in older adults who have multiple chronic illnesses or who are already frail. The heart of a young, otherwise healthy person might resume beating normally after CPR. Electric shocks, known as defibrillation, and medicines might also be used as part of the process. This force has to be quite strong, and sometimes ribs are broken or a lung collapses. It involves repeatedly pushing on the chest with force, while putting air into the lungs. What is CPR? Cardiopulmonary resuscitation might restore your heartbeat if your heart stops or is in a life-threatening abnormal rhythm. Artificial nutrition (tube feeding) and artificial hydration (IV, or intravenous, fluids).Decisions that might come up at this time relate to: Doctors can use several artificial or mechanical ways to try to do this. Sometimes decisions must be made about the use of emergency treatments to keep you alive. Research shows that advance directives can make a difference, and that people who document their preferences in this way are more likely to get the care they prefer at the end of life than people who do not. Medical Research and Advance Care Planning You might think of it as a living document-one that you can adjust as your situation changes because of new information or a change in your health. It helps others know what type of medical care you want.Īn advance directive also allows you to express your values and desires related to end-of-life care. This could be the result of disease or severe injury-no matter how old you are. These preferences are often put into an advance directive, a legal document that goes into effect only if you are incapacitated and unable to speak for yourself. What Is Advance Care Planning?Īdvance care planning involves learning about the types of decisions that might need to be made, considering those decisions ahead of time, and then letting others know-both your family and your health care providers-about your preferences. Knowing who you want to make decisions on your behalf and how you would decide might take some of the burden off family and friends. It will also discuss ways you can share your wishes with others. It can help you think about who you would want to make decisions for you if you can't make them yourself. This article will explain the types of decisions that may need to be made in such cases and questions you can think about now so you're prepared later. Many Americans face questions about medical treatment but may not be capable of making those decisions, for example, in an emergency or at the end of life. Even if you are not sick now, planning for health care in the future is an important step toward making sure you get the medical care you would want, if you are unable to speak for yourself and doctors and family members are making the decisions for you. At any age, a medical crisis could leave you too ill to make your own health care decisions. What to Do After You Set Up Your Advance DirectiveĪdvance care planning is not just about old age.Making Your Health Care Directives Official.Getting Started with Advance Care Planning.
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