With any terminal illness, it is important to make plans for your needs at this stage of your illness, in terms of medical care, end of life issues, legal and financial wishes. Planning for end of life issues would be better done at a much earlier stage of life, when decisions are made without the stress of illness. However more often it is left until this happens. The importance is higher for a person with dementia as the time will come when they will lose the legal capacity to make their own decisions. Financial planning includes making a Will, setting up an Enduring Power of Attorney, Statutory Trusts and Family Agreements. Advanced Care Planning includes setting up an Enduring Guardian, an Advanced Directive for medical wishes, and choosing a person responsible for the person with dementia when they lose legal capacity. This will include the refusal of treatment, refusal of food or fluids, pain control, refusal of antibiotics, resuscitation, terminal sedation and palliative care wishes. It is also important to discuss funeral arrangements with the person with dementia before capacity is lost. These are emotionally challenging things to do, but if left too late, a person wishes may not be able to be legally accepted. Read this Report Planning for end of life for people with dementia for valuable information expanding on end of life planning, written by Professor Colleen Cartwright for Alzheimer’s Australia.
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Kate – thanks for blogging about this VERY important topic. i consider it important enough to be on my list of needs. Many family disputes are created by misunderstandings about what their mother or father would want etc.
I’ll talk to you more about this via email.
Thanks again for bringing it up
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Excellent advice. Sending you lots of love.
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Wow, I’ve been thinking about you for days… how are you?
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this is a very important topic not just for dementia sufferers but any responsible person with family. No one can predict when they will leave this earth but it can help the family to cope better after death. we have done all of this to help my family out & daughter who would be left to deal with everything should DH & I be in a fatal accident or something. hard for most people to do but absolutely necessary…
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Could not agree more. Our organisation deal specifically with what we call ‘post-retirement’ or ‘aged care’ planning which involves all of the above documents you’ve mentioned. Don’t want to show boat on Kate’s blog, but if you are interested in learning more just google “Heather Hill Pathways”.
Aside from general information on the website there is also a great article by our legal partner on the need to have the legal documents completed well in advance which I’d encourage you to look if you aren’t already up to speed on what you need to have done.
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Happy for you to show boat and give your organisation a plug Josh, it is a great service and I wish there were more like yours.
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