Advance care planning

As it is hard to know what medical care you’re going to want until the situation arises, uncertainty is common. Many people find their attitudes and preferences for medical care change as they get closer to death, and they need to revisit their decision regularly.

To help you decide, think about what is important to you and talk with your health professionals, over several appointments if necessary.

For some people, quality of life is more important than length, but for others, it may be the reverse. Some people may feel there’s nothing worse than death, and will do anything to avoid it, while others prefer to die comfortably without unnecessary and sometimes uncomfortable interventions. You may want to find a balance between what medical care can achieve and the side effects of treatments.

Discussing these issues with the people around you will help them understand your goals, values and beliefs, and help to ensure that your wishes are respected should you lose the capacity to make your own decisions.

Without these conversations, it’s not uncommon for distressed family members to have disagreements about whether to keep you alive using any means possible or focus on your quality of life. Palliative Care Australia have developed a discussion starter that can help you reflect on your preferences for care and talk about them to your family – visit dyingtotalk.org.au/discussion-starter.

As part of your advance care planning, you may appoint a substitute decision-maker and record your wishes in an advance care plan and/or advance care directive. See Preparing legal documents for more information about these documents.

To find out more about the process of advance care planning, visit advancecareplanning.org.au or call the national advance care planning advisory line on 1300 208 582. Palliative Care Australia also has useful information on their website at palliativecare.org.au/advance-care-planning.