Advance Care Planning Australia and Dementia Australia are urging everyone to have brave conversations about their future health preferences in case, in the future, they cannot express their wishes.
More than 50% of Australians will be unable to make medical decisions at their end-of-life[1] but only 15% of people have an advance care directive.[2] If you couldn’t make decisions about your care, who would speak for you and what would they decide?
Dementia Australia Dementia Advocate Ann Pietsch, a retired nurse living with Lewy-Body Dementia, said she started planning by talking to her husband Timothy about her future preferences and writing an advance care directive.
“After I was diagnosed at 59 years of age, I appointed my husband as my substitute decision-maker,” Ann said.
“Should the time come when I cannot make my own decisions, I know he will uphold my rights and values.
“I feel it is empowering to have a directive detailing what is important to me. I love my pets, fine music and being out in the garden. I want to stay home as long as practical. I would like visits from the church pastor, and I do not want to play bingo. I have covered how I want to be cared for. I don’t want extreme measures if I am very ill, and I don’t want tube feeding.
“My family will feel empowered to ensure I will be cared for as I wish as my advance care directive will go with me if I go into hospital or into care.”
The time is now to talk to others
Now is the time to talk to your loved ones about your future health care preferences, and appoint a substitute decision-maker. Visit advancecareplanning.org.au for more information or email starter pack. For free advice or a printed starter pack, call the National Advance Care Planning Support Service: 1300 208 582 from 9am-5pm (AEST) Monday-Friday.
Or visit us: Advance Care Planning Australia
[1] Maria J. Silveira, M.D., M.P.H., Scott et al, Advance Directives and Outcomes of Surrogate Decision Making Before Death, The New England Journal of Medicine, 2010; 362:1211-1218. Available at https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa0907901
[2] White, B., Willmott, L. et al, Prevalence of advance care directives in the community: A telephone survey of three Australian States. Internal Medicine Journal, 49(10), pp. 1261-1267. Available at https://eprints.qut.edu.au/126743/2/126743.pdf