Is MyDirectives The Next Big Thing In Medical Directive Planning?

MyDirectives,” a service of ADVault, Inc., is touted as the first entirely online advance medical care planning service available to consumers to voice record and store advance directives for medical care so that medical professionals can not only read, but also hear your instructions and wishes concerning medical care and treatment in your own voice when you can’t express them yourself.

Through digital directives that include written documents, audio and even video messages, MyDirectives is giving people confidence that their voices will be heard in a medical emergency.

MyDirectives is aiming to transform the doctor-patient relationship by helping you create, store, update, and share medical directives to and from anywhere in the world. You can create them from the comfort and privacy of your own home with input from your family before you have an emergency. Your directives are stored electronically with MyDirectives and can be shared with doctors, health plans, and hospitals 24/7. Hospitals that link to MyDirectives can access your directives at the time of your admission.

MyDirectives makes it easy to create an emergency medical directive. The site takes you through a series of questions covering topics such as your values and treatment goals, types of treatment you want and don’t want, and who you want to represent you if you cannot make medical decision for yourself. You can choose from a selection of the most common answers or answer questions in your own words, with as much detail as you wish. You can even add your own video responses. You can edit them and access them at any time from anywhere. Your medical providers can only access the most recent version of your directives.

To learn more, or create your own digital directives, go to the MyDirectives website here.

Michigan Right-To-Try Law Enacted

 

A law giving terminally ill patients in Michigan the opportunity to try experimental drugs and other treatments was signed into law by Governor Rick Snyder earlier this week.

The “Right-to-Try” Act gives those suffering from advanced illnesses the choice to try experimental drugs and similar treatments which have yet to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The law allows drug makers to give patients with advanced illnesses experimental drugs, biological products, and devices that have successfully cleared Phase 1 of the FDA approval process.

The experimental treatments would only be permitted under a doctor’s supervision. Medical professionals and health care facilities are shielded from liability if the experimental treatment does not have a positive result for the patient. The law does not require insurance companies to cover the costs related to such treatments.

Michigan is the fourth state behind Colorado, Missouri, and Louisiana to enact a Right-To-Try law. Arizona residents will vote on a similar ballot initiative in November.

The bill was signed into law as Public Act 345 of 2014.

Is There Life After Death? Maybe

An article from The Telegraph published in the National Post reports that, according to a British study into near-death and out-of-body experiences, awareness may continue for a short time after the brain has shut down completely. Scientists at the University of Southampton spent 4 years studying more than 2,000 people who suffered cardiac arrest at 15 hospitals in the U.K., U.S., and Austria. They found that almost 40% of those patients who survived experienced some kind of “awareness” during the time when they were clinically dead before they were able to be revived.

One man, a 57 year old from Southampton, recalled leaving his body entirely and watching his resuscitation from the corner of the room. He was able to recount the actions of the medical staff in detail and described the sound of the machines despite being unconscious and “dead” for 3 minutes. Although many couldn’t recall specific details, common themes of peacefulness, bright light, and altered time emerged.

While medical professionals don’t know what causes this phenomenon, doctors involved in the study are hopeful that their findings will open the door to more extensive research into what happens when we die.

Read: The Telegraph, Largest Study Into Near-Death Experiences Discovers Awareness May Continue Even After the Brain Shuts Down, National Post, 10-07-2014.