
Organ Donation and Advance Care Planning
/ Posted in Featured Articles, Wills, Trusts & EstatesThere are many days and weeks given a special meaning. While today is Earth Day, on April 16th it was National Advance Care Planning Day, which was celebrated by a panel of speakers discussing advance care planning at UBCO. If you missed that day, you can find out more about advance care planning by visiting www.advancecareplanning.ca . We work with our clients to set up advance care planning through their Representation Agreements and Advance Directives. Advance Care Planning is a process where you express your wishes and instructions for future health care treatment.
This week is National Organ Donation Awareness Week. While a complete estate plan, from a legal paperwork perspective, does not need to ensure that you have considered organ donation on death, we do recommend that readers give this matter due attention as part of the estate planning process. You can relieve a great burden from those you leave behind by making a decision on organ donation in advance, and then informing your family members and your doctor of your decision. Hopefully you are able to cause your other family members to consider becoming an organ donor. You can learn more about becoming an organ and/or tissue donor at BC Transplant’s website found at: http://www.transplant.bc.ca/media_campaign_2012.htm and be sure to check out the national ad campaign running this week, inspired by a woman named Eva who lost a battle with Cystic Fibrosis but in dying helped many live on. If you are willing to become an organ donor, be sure to register at the www.transplant.bc.ca website.
Live Life. Pass It On. For statistics on the state of organ donation, check out this site: http://www.transplant.bc.ca/stats_faqs_main.htm
18.5% (847,422 people) in British Columbia alone are awaiting a transplant and statistics show only 15% of us have taken the steps required to register their decision with the Organ Donor Registry.
image courtesy of DonkeyHotey