Blog

End of life planning is such an important step to take and taking the necessary steps now to make sure you and your family are secure is the right thing to do. Every year, Dying Matters host an awareness week to remove the stigma around death, dying and grief. This year the campaign took place this month from 8-14th May.

This campaign is a British campaign, working in partnership with communities across the UK to encourage people to have open discussions about the inevitable event of death, bereavement, and creating end of life plans. The focus is shifted to a new topic every year, with this year being ‘Dying Matters in the workplace’.

Naturally, this topic can be a difficult category to have those important discussions in the workplace. However, Dying Matters every year attempts to educate how important and useful it is to openly address the subject in hope of creating a supportive community. Death is both an unavoidable topic and event in our lives and so addressing it with care and consideration is key.

An aging workforce means employers will need to take that inevitable step to increase their employees’ understanding around this subject by implementing tools to aid these open discussions around end-of-life planning. Having conversations regarding your wishes after your death or if you’re unable to make decisions for yourself in the future can reduce stress at a difficult time for your loved ones.

People of working age, as well as those who have retired, need to also think about what would happen when they pass away and what measures can they put in place when the time comes. A next step would be to draft a will and put in place other important documents when dealing with your end of life affairs.

Creating a Will

It is vital to make a Will to ensure your assets pass to your loved ones as per your expressed wishes. Creating a will also will include your requests regarding your funeral such as whether you wish to be cremated or buried and will also state if young children risk not having parents, who their guardians will be.

Moving forward with an end of life plan

End of life planning is a document that will address your wishes legally and this will include important decisions concerning how you are cared for in the final months of your life, the medical treatment you’d like to receive and any treatment you wish to refuse.

This is naturally relevant in later life however it is important to be mindful of the relevance to younger people who may be suffering from a life-limiting condition or terminal illness.

Choosing a living will / advance decisions to refuse treatment

A “Living Will”, or an Advance Decision, is a legally binding directive made by a person who has capacity, about the extent and nature of medical treatment they would like to undergo should they lose capacity in the future. A “Living Will” would allow you to choose and explain which treatments you would like to receive or refuse the giving or continuing of specific medical treatment.

Any advance statements of wishes

An Advance Statement allows you to document your wishes about your future care and medical treatment should you be unable to communicate your preferences at the relevant time.

It is useful to document your wishes for people to refer to should they want to know what is important to you at the end of your life. This can make a difficult time and the process easier for your loved-ones, as the Advance Statement would re-assure them of whether your wishes have been followed.

Moving forward with a lasting power of attorney

By creating a Health & Welfare Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) you can legally appoint a person(s) to make decisions regarding your health and care should you lose mental capacity.

You would appoint an attorney(s) to act on your behalf, who must abide by express limitations on their power(s) set out by you in the LPA e.g., permitting your attorney(s) to make decisions as to social care only, and not health care.  You can also provide instructions to your attorney(s) in the LPA (such as, I do not want to be treated with radiotherapy). If your attorney(s) powers are not expressly restricted, then they may give or refuse consent to medical treatment as and when circumstances arise.

If you have both an Advance Decision to refuse treatment and a Health & Welfare LPA, it is important to consider your preferences in each document to avoid confusion over your instructions. If you create a Health & Welfare LPA and an Advance Decision, whichever was made more recently takes priority in the event that they deal with the same decision.

How can we help?

The legal team at Berkeley Weston are a team of specialists with extensive experience in Wills and Living Wills, Advance Statements, and LPAs. We can support you through the process of your end-of-life planning, as well as providing expert legal advice and guidance on the appointment of attorney(s) and any limitations regarding the decisions your attorney(s) can make.

We can also advise on the specific instructions and preferences to include in your end-of-life planning so that people act in accordance with your wishes, and with a focus on your best interests.

You should review your Will if you have one and make one if not, plus take time to consider whom you should entrust your end of life decisions to and then ask us to put in place the best document to bring this about.