Five Wishes

When you have things to say
But can’t speak for yourself.

There are many things in life that are out of our hands or control. A Five Wishes document offers you a way to control how you are treated if you are seriously ill. It is an easy form to complete that lets you say exactly what you want. Once it is filled out and signed, it’s valid under most state laws, California being one of them.

Five Wishes is an advance directive, a legal document explaining how you want your medical decisions to be made if you can’t make them yourself. It will guide your health care team and loved ones when they need to make medical decisions for you. It takes into consideration your personal and emotional needs as well as the medical decisions. It lets you say exactly how you want to be treated if you get seriously ill, or are unconscious.

It’s also very easy to set up. All you have to do is check a box, circle a direction, or write a few sentences.

Five Wishes helps you think ahead of time about the kind of care you want. It lets you talk with your family, friends and doctors about how you want to be treated if you become seriously ill or incapacitated. Your family will not have to guess what you want. It protects them because they won’t have to make hard choices without knowing what you want.

It’s like having car insurance or an earthquake box. We all hope we’ll never need it, but it’s there if we do.

If you would like to discuss making a Five Wishes document, please make an appointment with Amy Reichbach, our clinical health educator. A free service of the Klotz Student Health Center. 818-677-3666, option 1.