4 minute read
Advance Care Planning
From a legal perspective, Advance Care Planning consists of 3 components in the state of Victoria:
- Your Will
- Your (Enduring) Power of Attorney
- Your Advance Care Directive
Put simply, your Will is concerned with your property after your death, and if you have underage children, crucially, it also establishes their guardianship; your (Enduring) Power of Attorney is concerned with your accommodation and finances while you are alive; and your Advance Care Directive is concerned with the treatment of your physical body, both while you are alive, and potentially immediately following your death.
- Most people choose to consult a lawyer when composing their Will.
- The Enduring Power of Attorney can be set up using the forms provided by the Victorian Office of the Public Advocate that can be downloaded here. Whether or not to involve a lawyer is a personal decision.
- The Victorian Department of Health provides Advance Care Directive forms and their supporting forms and instructions here. You can either download and fill those in by yourself, or we can do that – and more – together, to create comprehensive documentation that best represents your wishes and values when it comes to your care.
Your Advance Care Directive
There are two situations in which people usually think to prepare an Advance Care Directive: either because they are facing death due to the onset or rapid progression of a life-limiting illness, or because they have had a recent health scare, such as an accident or a serious, but temporary, illness.
And yes, it makes good sense to start your planning process in either of those circumstances but in reality every adult should have an Advance Care Directive in place. Consider this: only 17% of Australians have completed their Advance Care Directive by the time they would need its protection, and the other 83% are therefore missing out on the benefits it could offer them.
An Advance Care Directive is not intended to be a disaster management tool, instead, it is a way for you to make informed decisions about your life, your body, and your medical treatment. Moreover, it can be employed to address matters of where you would like to receive medical care, who you would want to have around you, what spiritual or religious supports you are hoping to receive, and finally, how you wish for your body to be treated in the hours and days following your death.
Many of us would like to wake up one day and realise that we’re dead. That is not the reality for most people these days, though, and with what is medically possible, for most of us, death will be preceded by days, weeks, or even months of medical interventions. Your Advance Care Directive, together with your Medical Decision Maker(s) and your Medical Support Person(s) – should you choose to appoint them – will ensure that what happens to you is in alignment with your beliefs, wishes, and values, so that you can complete your life with dignity.
How I can help
Should you conclude that you would benefit from being guided through the process, then I am here to help. My focus is on explaining to you the most common situations when an Advance Care Directive would come into effect (as defined in the scope that you decide on), the most common default medical interventions you should be aware of, as well as their implications, and what choices are available to you in either opting into – or out of – those.
We can also discuss and document your accommodation preferences (at home, in hospital, etc.) and who you would like to be by your side while receiving medical care. This is where your Medical Decision Maker(s) and your Medical Support Person(s) can play a role. Further, we can talk about organ and tissue donation, any spiritual concerns you might have, and what you would like to happen to your body in the hours and days immediately following your death.
I am offering an Advanced Care Directive Package, either in-person or via Zoom, that thoroughly addresses all of the above considerations.