As your loved ones get older, it’s important to have discussions about end-of-life care. While these conversations can be difficult, you want to ensure that your loved one receives the kind of care they want. Our Angels have experience working with families making end-of-life choices. Let’s look at how Home Care in Philadelphia can help and some of the considerations they recommend during these tough decisions.
Create an Advanced Care Plan
An advanced care plan are written documents that set out what your loved one’s wishes are. This includes the type of treatments they want to receive both in a hospice setting or as part of their home care plan.
What’s Included in an Advanced Care Plan?
The documents that will be part of your loved one’s advance care plan will depend on their specific wishes and needs. These typically include,
- A living will that instructs doctors how they will be treated if they’re unable to make their own decisions – for example, in the case of a medical emergency or when health conditions like Alzheimer’s reach advanced stages.
- A durable power of attorney that names a healthcare proxy if they’re unable to make their own healthcare decisions.
- Out-of-hospital orders are signed by a physician to ensure that emergency medical personnel are able to respect their wishes if their end-of-life care takes place in the home.
Do You Need a Durable Power of Attorney and a Living Will?
While having both a living will and a durable power of attorney may seem unnecessary, in fact, your loved one may encounter end-of-life situations that they hadn’t anticipated. By having both, you ensure that someone they trust is able to direct their care in those situations.
Decision-Making Strategies
If your loved one appoints you to be their representative for end-of-life care, it’s important that you determine the best ways to make difficult decisions on their behalf. Two typical end-of-life decision-making methods are substituted judgment and best interest. These can be used in combination, but each one has different considerations you take into account.
Substituted Judgement
With substituted judgment, you base your decisions on similar situations that your loved one has experienced or talked about. This can be other healthcare experiences that your loved one has had before or experiences they’ve seen friends go through.
Best Interest
In the best-interest situation, you consider what would provide your loved one with the best outcome for their situation. This means considering, for example, if surgery or treatment would improve their quality of life based on their circumstances.
Tips for End-of-Life Care Discussions
If you haven’t had an end-of-life care discussion with your aging loved one, there is no better time to sit down and talk than now. You or your loved one may feel a lot of anxiety about the conversation. Here are a few tips to help you talk to your loved one.
- Keep the conversation focused on them. It’s natural to think about what you may be comfortable with, but remember that you’re discussing your loved one’s needs.
- Talk about values that are important to them that may affect the kind of treatment that would be right for them. If they want their end-of-life care to respect their religious beliefs, for example, then make sure you discuss that.
- Ask them about friends who have been through end-of-life care, and if it brought up any concerns they’d have for themselves.
- Ask who they’ll want to have any specific family members close by when they begin end-of-life care.
Are You Looking for Home Care in Philadelphia?
Angels on Call is here for your family. An at-home caregiver can help make end-of-life conversations easier and ensure your loved one receives the care they need. Contact us to talk about your loved ones’ needs and set up a free in-home consultation.
