Anderson Oconee Pickens

Extra Credit Project Sparks Discussion about End-of-Life Issues

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 4/15/05
CONTACT: HORACE ALEXANDER, 646-1603
(By Lisa Garrett)

PENDLETON --- An extra credit project in a Business Management class at Tri-County Technical College has initiated conversation and introspective thinking about a subject these Generation X'ers never before considered—end-of-life issues and taking responsibility for their lives by completing a Health Care Power of Attorney.

Instructor Horace Alexander, Jr. offers students the chance to gain extra credit points by completing a Health Care Power of Attorney form—a three-page document that allows a family member or friend (agent) to make medical and other health care decisions for an individual when he or she has become incapacitated and unable to speak for him or herself.

The Health Care Power of Attorney and the Living Will are both Advanced Directives that are necessary and important safeguards in terms of voicing personal wishes, yet they are quite different. While the Health Care Power of Attorney is a document that addresses precisely the medical care and treatment you desire in the event you cannot speak for yourself, the Living Will, on the other hand, is a document whereby the signer requests not to be kept alive by medical life-support systems in the event of a terminal illness—allowing a natural death (AND), in other words, said Alexander.

Alexander spent nearly a year in residency as a chaplain at AnMed Health while working on his Master of Arts in Christian Education and Master of Divinity at Erskine Theological Seminary and did extensive research in the area of Advanced Directives. "In life-threatening situations where patients could not speak for themselves, I never heard the voice of the patient, only the voices of family members in the room. How can you stop the cycle of the Terri Schiavo incident if you do not educate persons about how easy it is to make your wishes known concerning medical care and life-sustaining treatments? I witnessed families who had to make these types of treatment decisions on the spot. Many times the decision was a life or death matter, yet decisions reached did not represent the wishes of the patient because he or she was unconscious or incapacitated. It was a decision based solely, for the most part, on what the family wishes were. Only one time during that year I worked as a chaplain at AnMed Health did I see a Health Care Power of Attorney in a patient's file," he said.

"The worst time to talk about a health care power of attorney is when you need one. The best time to talk about it is when you are young and healthy," he added.

"It has become my life’s mission, since my experiences at the hospital, to expose people to their medical rights and to give them the opportunity to make their wishes known," said Alexander. He found a captive audience in his Business Management students, all of whom did not even know what the term 'Advanced Directive' meant.

"It's hard to think about this topic at age 19," said Ben Maddox, a University Transfer major who lives in Anderson. "And I never thought about making these decisions until it came up in class at the beginning of the semester. But you never know what will happen or when, and you should be ready. The Terri Schiavo case really influenced my thoughts," he added.

"Mr. Alexander really put things in perspective for me," added Maddox. "The document is the best, single most important thing I've gotten out of this class. I feel safer, and I know whom I'm putting my trust in. If it ever does come down to making a decision, the right one will be made. And it will be less painful for my family."

While it may be helpful for an attorney to compete an Advanced Directive, it isn’t required, said Alexander. "Completing the form is easy, and it costs nothing. The process entails filling out the form, assigning an agent in the event that you cannot speak for yourself, and obtaining two witnesses to make the document legal. Forms may be obtained from any local hospital and should be kept on file with a family physician,” advised Alexander.

"During a class lecture I describe and explain every line of the Health Care Power of Attorney," said Alexander. "Their extra credit assignment entails taking the form home to talk it over with their parents and, if they so desire, bringing it back after it has been signed by two witnesses to receive the extra credit points."

Alexander says he's proud to report that 99 percent of his students have responded in the last two years he has been teaching at the College. "Completing this form is the single most important document you will ever fill out. Once you learn about the Health Care Power of Attorney, it is a form you will never forget. It’s your words, and you put people in charge of what you have requested. It gives you a voice and some authority over what happens to you as opposed to a hospital and its staff making decisions on your behalf about your health care and treatment in a life-or-death situation," he said.

"Although I am well aware that many of the students opt for the assignment as a way of avoiding a more difficult assignment, my goal of educating as many people as possible about Advanced Directives has been achieved. At least, if one of my students ever walks into an emergency room setting and is escorted into a family conference room, he or she will not be surprised when hearing, 'what treatment do you want your loved one to receive?" he said.

Alexander believes he would be hard pressed to find someone with a Health Care Power of Attorney even in light of the recent Terri Schiavo case. "But at Tri-County Technical College, the average age of a Business Technology student with a Health Care Power of Attorney is 19, which is great," he said. More than 150 students have completed forms in his two years of teaching.

"It's inevitable -- we are all going to die, but the good news is that we have a say in how we die. When we come to the end of our days, we now have choices in how we spend them. Advanced Directives are documents that speak clear and precise language -- treat me the way I want to be treated," said Alexander.