The Importance of Advance Care Planning

Advance care planning might not be the most enjoyable topic to talk about with our senior loved ones, but it might be one of the most important conversations we ever have with them. That’s why having a frank discussion about advance care planning is something that shouldn’t be delayed, even if your elderly parent seems to be the essence of good health.

Advance care directives don’t only account for unpredictable medical occurrences such as strokes and heart attacks. A car accident, a trip and fall around the house, or even a workplace injury are all examples of everyday happenings that could strike anyone at any time, regardless of age or physical ability, leaving the senior incapacitated and unable to make their own decisions.

No one wants to think about having to contend with a healthcare crisis, but addressing it in advance can help avoid stress and strain both now and in the future. Still, polling indicates slightly more than half of people – only 56 percent – have discussed what their senior parents want.

Discussing advance care directives will not only help you to know the answers to specific questions about unpredictable medical occurrences, but it will also give you insight into your senior parent’s thought process and help you to understand what they truly would want in situations you might not be able to anticipate. You’ll be empowered to act as the authoritative voice that speaks for someone who can’t speak for themselves.

Benefits of Advance Care Planning Include:

• Peace of mind for both you and your senior loved one, knowing that should an unforeseen issue come up, you’ll know how to make decisions aligned with their wishes.
• Treatment options are advancing and evolving constantly, so keeping an open dialogue about preferred healthcare decisions can help you to stay on top of the changing times and the choices that are available for your senior loved one.
• Breaking the ice on this sensitive topic should make it easier to discuss other important topics and open lines of communication between you and your senior loved one.
• When an emergency arises, you won’t feel the pressure of trying to weigh all the options when seconds count and the atmosphere around you is chaotic.
• If you reach the point where you must opt to withdraw care, knowing that you’re carrying out your senior loved one’s wishes can lessen the pressure of an already stressful situation.
• Making the tough decisions now and letting the rest of the family in on the role you’re playing in the process will hopefully help to avoid drama and hurt feelings should the need to advocate for your elderly parent’s end-of-life wishes arise. Most people, especially adult children, don’t want to learn they were left out of the decision-making process regarding their parents, when emotions are raw.

Knowing your senior loved one’s wishes will ensure that their beliefs and values are represented when it comes to making life and death decisions. In some cases, mapping out advance care directives may be the only way they can guarantee having a say in their treatment at all. Additionally, in absence of clear direction otherwise, incapacitated patients may be given treatments they would not have opted for, like being placed on life support.

What do you need to know? Advance care decisions can include:

• Consenting to tests
• Consenting to surgical procedures
• Starting or refusing treatment or withdrawing life prolonging measures
• Admission or discharge from a medical facility
• Moving into or receiving personal care in a long-term care home

Consider this: What if you are a senior who hasn’t empowered someone to be your advance care advocate? Choosing the right person to represent you is just as important as the decisions themselves. You should seek someone who doesn’t panic in high-pressure situations, and who you can trust to stick to your wishes even if they don’t necessarily agree with them. Make sure they would be capable of clearly communicating your wishes in a definitive way.

The person you choose as your healthcare decision maker should be someone truly interested in your well-being and your happiness. It’s important that they’re a firm decision maker and that the other people in your family know that you have appointed them with this role. The last thing you want to happen is family members finding out during a crisis that someone else has been named the final authority. This can lead to questions over whether or not the person’s ability to make decisions is legitimate.

Visit Bethesda’s Health & Wellness blog to explore health warning signs and preventative plans.