This email is making the rounds....
1. Kaiser hospital now scans your medical directive right into their computer system so no matter which one you go to they have it. You just take a copy to any of their hospital admissions office.
2. I don’t know much of a problem this could be.
One of the friends wrote: "I had a similar experience just last month at a clinic in Eatonville, FL. As I'm sitting in the lobby I noticed a sign on the wall among other posters. It said, "We do not honor medical directives." I asked the receptionist about the sign but she replied she had never noticed it before and didn't know what it meant. She told me to ask the nurse or doctor.
I asked the nurse and basically they said that this is a right to live facility and they will do whatever it takes to save the patient.
So needless to say, I didn't keep my next appointment. I thought to myself, I don't plan on fainting or having some kind of serious health issue, but what if? And what if I'm in this office when that happens. So now we have to be more aware of these signs in doctor's offices.
3) This happened to another of the friends.
Before a particular procedure I was given three pages to read with all kinds of information in small type --- problems I've had in the past, operations, meds I take, etc., the usual stuff. At the end I had to sign the papers. I assume that 99% of us trust our doctors and we sign, never expecting to run into a paragraph like this (word for word):
"I understand that advance directives are NOT honored at this medical Center and in the event of a life-threatening situation, emergency medical procedures will be instituted in every instance and patients will be transferred to a higher level of care where the decision to continue or to terminate emergency measures can be made . . . "
Make sure you are not signing away your rights!