Thinking ahead to the end of life…
Thinking about the end of life can be difficult and we tend to put it off until we have to. But it’s never too soon to put your affairs in order so that you are prepared for any eventuality.
Guest blog by Age UK B&NES
If you have recently received a diagnosis of a life-limiting illness, you may not feel like making practical arrangements, but getting these sorted can alleviate some of your concerns - allowing you to spend quality time with those closest to you.
What to consider when planning for the end of life
Talk
Having conversations with family and friends about your wishes and preferences at the end of life is a good place to start. This may seem difficult at first, but Age UK’s guide, ‘Thinking about the end of life’ has a number of ways to get started.
Make a Will
Is your will up to date? If not, now is the time to review it. If you die not having made a will, it can take much longer to deal with your estate, and the people who inherit your money and possessions may not necessarily be the people you have chosen. Age UK has a useful Guide and Factsheet about making a will.
Power of Attorney
You might want to consider whether you want someone to act as an Attorney. This might be needed in the event of you suddenly losing the capacity to make and communicate your decisions regarding your property, finances, and health and wellbeing.
If you were to lose mental capacity without having a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) in place, your family, friends or carer could apply to the Court of Protection for permission to make decisions on your behalf. However, this is an expensive and often lengthy process, so it will make things much easier if you plan ahead and get an LPA in place while you can.
Do you want to have a Power of Attorney just for Financial and Property matters? Or also in the event of you having lost the capacity to make decisions? It is good to consider these situations, although difficult to think about. The person or people you are choosing to act as your representatives, have the power to make decisions about things like whether you are given life-saving treatment or resuscitation and where you should be placed if being cared for in your own home is no longer a possibility. For this, you need to arrange a Lasting Power of Attorney for Health and Welfare. More information about Power of Attorney can be found in Age UK’s Guide and Factsheet.
Advance Statement
If you have very specific wishes about how you would like to be treated, should you be unable to express your wishes or desires, you might want to consider making an Advance Statement.
You may want this to include information about your religious or other beliefs and important aspects of your life. For example, you can include things such as food and drink preferences, the type of clothes you like to wear, the way you prefer your hair to be worn, music, TV or DVD preferences, or whether you prefer a bath or a shower. You can say whom you would like to visit you, or to be consulted about your care.
It is helpful to write this information down so that people can refer to it if they want to know what you like and what is important to you. An Advance Statement is not legally binding, but those making a ‘best interests’ decision on your behalf should take its contents into account when you cannot tell them what you would like.
If you are clear that you do not wish to be resuscitated in the event of having a cardiac arrest, you could choose to make an Advance Decision making this clear, instead of using a Lasting Power of Attorney Health and Welfare for this purpose.
More information from Age UK about this can be found here. There are pro-forma documents you can use on which to write your Advance Decision and Advance Statement. A good place to obtain these from is the organisation Compassion in Dying.
