Advance care planning: What patients and caregivers should know
Advance care planning can seem daunting, but it’s a necessary process to make sure that your health care preferences are honored if you become too sick to speak for yourself.
“I define advance care planning as an ongoing process of communication about your goals, values and wishes in terms of your health care decisions,” says senior social work counselor Melanie Cavazos.
She and gastrointestinal medical oncologist...
What is a Living Will?
A Living Will is a legal document that allows you to specify which types of medical care you’d like, if a situation ever arises in which you...
Estate planning checklist: How to start ‘getting your affairs in order’
Many patients come to MD Anderson for a second opinion after being told elsewhere: “Get your affairs in order.”
But what...
6 myths about advance directives
An advance directive is a written legal document that allows you to communicate your wishes for your health care in the event you are no longer able to make medical decisions for yourself.
Social work counselor Mark Anderson has years of experience working with patients on advance care planning, which includes advance directives. Here, he dispels six common myths about advance directives.
Myth #1: The Living Will and Medical...
How to get started with legacy planning
When other people think of you, what do you want them to remember? Is it a particular personality trait that has defined your life? A passion...
Why early advance care planning conversations are so important
When you hear the word cancer, you begin to contemplate the finality of life and ask yourself a hundred questions: Will I survive? If treatment...
5 ways our social work counselors can help during cancer treatment
Whether you're a patient or a caregiver, cancer treatment is stressful. But our social work counselors can help.
At MD Anderson,...
4 questions about advance care planning, answered
Many Americans are beginning to talk about their medical care wishes. This process of making decisions about your future health care is called...
Why I did advance care planning at age 23
When I was rediagnosed with tongue cancer at age 23, I had to deal with a lot of things most people my age had never considered. But whenever...
Advance care planning: 6 steps for planning your future
Today is National Healthcare Decisions Day.
Whether you're a patient or caregiver, having conversations about future care should...