What Should I Do With My Completed Advance Directive?

After completing your advance directive, make copies and give one to everyone who is close to you, including your spouse/partner, children, siblings and all those who are important in your life.  Sit down with them at a convenient time, go over your wishes and talk about why you have made the decisions you’ve made. Even if your family doesn’t agree with your point of view, they will appreciate your taking the time to explain it to them. You should also give a copy to your attorney, your health care team and your health care proxy, and, of course, keep a copy for yourself. 

After giving copies to the important people in your life, store the original document in a secure and easily accessible place, such as an unlocked desk drawer or even in the refrigerator, where it will be protected in the event of fire or flood. It’s also more likely to be found there by emergency services personnel while they are looking for medications or a medication list. Make sure your health care surrogate and others in your family know where it’s kept and that the location is accessible to them. Emergency personnel are trained to look in certain places, including the refrigerator door, the door to a bedroom or the back of the front door, so consider leaving a copy in those locations. 

Another option for storing your advance directive is to contract with a service that will store it in the cloud and make it available to your health care provider on your behalf. For an annual fee, MedicAlert will store a copy of your advance directive and prehospital DNR form as part of your emergency health record. It will also provide a MedicAlert bracelet bearing the words “Do Not Resuscitate” for you to wear if that’s your wish. 

The U.S. Advance Care Plan Registry provides a similar service and makes all of your advance planning documents (including a POLST or out-of-hospital DNR) available to EMS and medical providers via the internet or a mobile app. There are also a growing number of apps and services that allow a person to create and save a digital advance directive and video sharing their wishes. 

Sources

“My MedicAlert Services”. MedicAlert. https://www.medicalert.org/medical-id-services/my-medicalert-services 

U.S. Advance Care Plan Registry. https://www.usacpr.com/ 
“About Digital and Video Advance Directives”. CaringInfo. https://www.caringinfo.org/planning/advance-directives/digital-video-advance-directives/