Who Will Make Your End-Of-Life Decisions When You Are Incapacitated?
December 28, 2010
As we get older, the threat of illness or injury increases, and many of us wonder what will happen if we fall or get injured. Who will make important healthcare decisions if we become incapacitated? How will medical personnel know how to treat us if we cannot communicate with them? The answer to all of these questions is: Healthcare Agents.
A healthcare agent is the person you name in your Health Care Proxy to make medical decisions for you when you cannot make them for yourself. This person will talk to doctors, manage your medical care, authorize treatment, and possibly even make life and death decisions. Knowing all this, it is important to choose someone who thinks clearly under pressure, is not intimidated with medical problems, and who will keep the medical staff in check. But beyond choosing the right person, it is essential to discuss your wishes with your agent ahead of time.
Executing a healthcare directive and nominating a healthcare agent is not just about choosing the right person to make the big life-and-death decisions for you, it’s also about taking care of the loved ones you leave behind. Most people have strong wishes about life-support and end-of-life care, but rarely do they want those wishes carried out at the expense of their loved ones. Creating a healthcare directive which outlines those wishes—and discussing those wishes with your agent and your family—is important not only for your own peace of mind, but also to ensure the peace of mind of your loved ones, those who will be left to mourn your absence after you’re gone. As a health care directive, I give each client the “Your Way” workbook.
And if you don’t name an agent in a Health Care Proxy? Your family will be forced to go to court and spend thousands of dollars pursuing a guardianship.
Acupuncture for Seniors – Ever Tried It?
January 22, 2010
Ever tried acupuncture? It took me years to work up the nerve to leave the comforts of the doctor’s office experience I have always known and to explore this new territory – and am I glad I did! If you’ve never tried it, now is a great time.
Bob Thomson, Lic. Ac., practices in Hingham. I know several people who swear by his skills. He is a great listener, and he really takes the time to think up the most appropriate treatment for each client. Lucky for us, he is conducting group sessions at our local senior centers. He has the group sit in comfortable chairs, and he applies treatments to the calfs and forearms – and from those locations, the acupuncture works its way to the rest of your body, to find the places that need the healing.
Afraid of needles? They don’t hurt. They shouldn’t call them needles, that word scares too many people. Although I admit that I close my eyes and don’t look at them for my entire session.
Here is where you can find Bob and begin your path towards feeling better:
Hanover Council on Aging: Friday 1/29 & Friday 2/5, both from 8:00 – 10:30 a.m. (Ongoing)
Hingham Department of Elder Services: Thursday 1/28 from 9:00 – 11:00 a.m. (Fourth Thursday of every month)
And if you aren’t quite ready for a treatment but would like to meet Bob and learn more about acupuncture, he will be presenting an introductory seminar at the Braintree Council on Aging on Thursday 2/18 from 10:30 – 11:30 a.m.
The fee is $25 per treatment, and the fifth session is free.
Spice up your winter and try something new!
End of Life Wishes & Living Wills
August 25, 2009
Clients are always asking about living wills. Massachusetts law does not recognize a living will, and it’s also impossible to write a thorough, well balanced statement of your end of life wishes in just a few paragraphs.
I provide clients with a solution to their goal, but in a much better form. I give my clients a workbook called Your Way. It is published by a nonprofit in California, H.E.L.P.: Helping People Meet Aging-Related Legal & Care Challenges.
This workbook is twelve pages long and very thoughtfully walks the reader through various scenarios you could confront in an end of life situation and what kind of comfort and care you would like to receive. For example, what matters to you the most – being with friends and family? Listening to music? Being able to help dress yourself? Under various scenarios, would you want curative care or to be kept comfortable? Who do you want with you as you are dying? Where would you want to be? A twelve-page work book written by heath care professionals does a much better job elucidating your wishes than an attorney can do in a one-page living will.
If you are not a client of this office, then log onto the Your Way website and order a workbook. If you are my client, then you already have a copy. Complete the exercises and give your family the gift of knowing exactly what you would want them to do in a crisis situation.
Do You Have a Defibrillator or a Pacemaker?
February 25, 2009
If you have, or if your loved one has, an ICD (implantable cardioverter defibrillator) or Pacemaker, you know what amazing devices these can be for saving lives. But if you are in and end of life situation and have made the decision to cease treatments and to focus instead on palliative and comfort care, please remember to have these devices turned off.
With some frequency, patients sign a Do Not Resuscitate form and maybe even enter hospice treatment, but no one thinks about the ICD or Pacemaker. Leaving them on can make the dying process very painful for the patient and emotionally wrenching for the family. Apparently, the patient’s body lurches over and over again and it feels to the person as if horses are kicking in her chest. Far from the peaceful goodbye that we all hope for.
So please, if you have one of these devices and have chosen to execute a DNR or to enter hospice care, talk to your medical team about turning it off.