Death and dying; end of life decisions
Death is inevitable. And when the dreaded time comes, it may not be as easy as you might have anticipated. Planning and communicating end-of-life care will see that your wishes are honored. But what happens when a crisis strike and the person is not in a position to communicate their wishes?
According to a report published by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press in 2006, only 1 in every four people have signed advance directives on what should happen when they die, or in conditions where they cannot make any medical decisions. This leaves Spouses, siblings, children, and other relatives to address critical issues relating to surrogacy and other legal considerations often under very extreme emotional circumstances.
sometimes there is a directive but rarely addresses the specific medical attention they would have wanted because the condition was not foreseen. For such people, making decisions regarding the plan of care may prove a dauting task. First, the family members and the physician must come to a common ground on the actual prognosis and the condition of the patient before making any decision.
An effective way to plan your end of life care is first to understand palliative care and then develop an advance care plan, preferably when you are still healthy. Ideally, you should discuss with your physician or close family members forms of life-sustaining treatments that you would prefer in case you fall seriously ill.
Below are some Critical elements to consider when making an end-of-life care plan.
• Talk to your healthcare team to understand the role and the goal the care plan seeks to achieve.
• Treatment options at the late stage of illness only reduce symptoms and not hasten death, as most people think.
• Types of painkillers and their effects. You may ask not to be medicated with strong painkillers with sedating effects
• Drip medications, their treatment mechanism, and their possible side effects.
• Let your family and health care givers know your take on resuscitation. You can give directives on whether you want to be resuscitated using CPR. If not, make sure it is known.
• Ensure that people, particularly those close to you know where to find the advance care directive.
As hard as it seems, try talking to your family and let your wishes be clear. This will give you peace of mind knowing that your wishes will be honored when you fall seriously ill. Your family won’t have to go through the hustle of guessing or even disagreeing over what you would have wanted.

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