By John Mills
End of life planning is getting a bad name because of the misinformation being spread about death panels and death books. This is a shame because end of life planning is important and something we should all be thinking about for ourselves and our loved ones.
End of life planning is about ensuring you are in charge of medical decisions if you become mentally incapacitated and are unable to communicate. While many people ask that life support be removed if there is no hope of recovery, a living will can include asking that all life sustaining procedures to be preformed in order to keep you alive. This is your decision.
I experienced the importance of end of life planning first hand when my father, who had late stage Parkinson’s Disease, suffered a stroke which left him with little brain function. After the stroke, we learned he had advanced cancer which had not been diagnosed. While he was able to breath on his own, he was unable to feed himself, drink or perform any bodily functions without assistance. He was totally dependent on others to sustain life.
Fortunately, my father went through end of life planning after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. He had a Living Will clearly expressing his wishes, designated a Health Care Proxy to speak on his behalf and established a Power of Attorney for his legal and financial affairs. Having all this in place removed any doubt about his end of life wishes and eliminated additional stress on the family.
eCareDiary.com has a Healthcare Documents page which has end of life planning information including Healthcare Proxies, Living Wills and Powers of Attorney for all 50 states. I encourage you to visit the page to learn more.