Wisconsinites asked to fill out living wills

Talk about it

If you rush to file your taxes Tuesday don’t plan to rest on Wednesday.

Health care experts will encourage all of us that day to make some tough decisions about the end of our lives.

Wednesday is National Health Care Decisions’ Day, when you’ll be asked to name a relative who would decide on your end of life care if you can’t do it yourself.

It prevents the type of legal mess involving Terri Schiavo in Florida a few years back.

Only about a quarter of U.S. adults have advance directives.

In Wisconsin, it’s easier than elsewhere to declare a power of attorney for health care.

A new statewide form was created at Gundersen Hospital in La Crosse, with more specific questions on what a patient would want.

Experts said the previous document was too vague. It often left doctors confused about what they should do.

Geri Heppe, a health care worker in Waukesha County, said she was glad she got her family to think about the subject. It put a power of attorney in place when her brother-in-law died of cancer.

In Heppe’s words, “We knock ourselves silly providing so much education for the beginning of life – but we’ve done a poor job educating people on the choices they have at the end of their lives.”

Tags: wisconsinnews, nationalhealthcaredecisionsday