Health Care Decisions: Will Your Wishes Be Known During End-of-Life Care?
In my view, everyone over the age of 18 ought to have appropriate health care and financial documents that will assign a trusted person to speak for them should they, for whatever reason, be unable to speak for themselves.
But most people wait until they’re well into middle age before taking care of this important legal work.
For those who die young, or are disabled because of an unexpected event such as a car accident or ill-fated dive into an unfamiliar lake, it’s too late. Their families may have to fight in the courts and in hospital wards in order to carry through with the decisions that they believe this young person would have wanted them to make.
For those fortunate enough to live well into middle age, life experience does tend to indicate that appointing Powers of Attorney for financial issues and health care is wise. And even then, many still put it off…
Minding Our Elders: Caregivers Share Their Personal Stories. “For anyone having to walk the last segments of life with a loved one, read this.” …Delores
