In the weeks before the death of the legendary Casey Kasem on June 15 (I remember listening to him religiously as a kid, and can hear his distinctive voice clearly in my head as if it was yesterday), there was much discussion in the media about the conflicts within Kasem's family over how Kasem should live out his final days. No doubt, those same questions were battled over countless times for years by Kasem's family members behind closed doors.
This sad story is just another example of the strife that can arise when a person doesn't have a health care proxy/advance directive set up. Simply put, a health care proxy/advance directive document allows you to name the person who will be able to make health care/end of life decisions for you should you ever become unable to, and it also allows you to express your own wishes about end of life medical treatment.
As Baby Boomers turn 65 at the rate of 10,000 per day, they enjoy the prospect of two or more decades of active living still ahead. However, increased and healthier lifespans should not be an excuse for Boomers (or anyone else) to ignore the ultimate reality of life and to put off critical decisions until it's too late.
I've never had a client tell me they wished to end their lives hooked up to feeding tubes and breathing machines, but that is precisely what can and does happen when a person fails to set up a health care proxy/advance directive, especially in situations where family members disagree on the course of treatment (or lack thereof). The default setting given the laws and ethics of medicine is that you will be kept alive as long as machines will allow, unless you express and direct otherwise.
Setting up a healthcare proxy/advance directive also allows you to give some thought--while you're healthy--to other decisions related to end of life, such as whether you would like hospice care or to be moved back home in your final days, as opposed to spending them in a hospital. It also allows your wishes to be plain for your family and loved ones to see, in black and white, so that they can be confident that your wishes are being carried out, even if they differ from their own, personal wishes.
Perhaps there is some comfort to be taken from the fact that Casey Kasem, given the dementia he was suffering, was probably mostly if not entirely unaware of the conflicts raging among his wife and kids, but it is still very sad to hear of yet another family torn apart over differing opinions and wishes related to the final days of a loved one who did not express those wishes himself when he had the ability to do so.
This sad story is just another example of the strife that can arise when a person doesn't have a health care proxy/advance directive set up. Simply put, a health care proxy/advance directive document allows you to name the person who will be able to make health care/end of life decisions for you should you ever become unable to, and it also allows you to express your own wishes about end of life medical treatment.
As Baby Boomers turn 65 at the rate of 10,000 per day, they enjoy the prospect of two or more decades of active living still ahead. However, increased and healthier lifespans should not be an excuse for Boomers (or anyone else) to ignore the ultimate reality of life and to put off critical decisions until it's too late.
I've never had a client tell me they wished to end their lives hooked up to feeding tubes and breathing machines, but that is precisely what can and does happen when a person fails to set up a health care proxy/advance directive, especially in situations where family members disagree on the course of treatment (or lack thereof). The default setting given the laws and ethics of medicine is that you will be kept alive as long as machines will allow, unless you express and direct otherwise.
Setting up a healthcare proxy/advance directive also allows you to give some thought--while you're healthy--to other decisions related to end of life, such as whether you would like hospice care or to be moved back home in your final days, as opposed to spending them in a hospital. It also allows your wishes to be plain for your family and loved ones to see, in black and white, so that they can be confident that your wishes are being carried out, even if they differ from their own, personal wishes.
Perhaps there is some comfort to be taken from the fact that Casey Kasem, given the dementia he was suffering, was probably mostly if not entirely unaware of the conflicts raging among his wife and kids, but it is still very sad to hear of yet another family torn apart over differing opinions and wishes related to the final days of a loved one who did not express those wishes himself when he had the ability to do so.
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