The concept of the end of life is a period that has evolved over time, with a longer duration due to advancements in health care. The end of life stage is likened to other life course stages, with specific tasks and preparations needed for a smooth transition.
Final Exit Network, a nonprofit, offers end-of-life resources including articles on Exit Guide Services, Advance Directives, personal stories, and Healthcare Representatives, emphasizing the significance of choosing a suitable healthcare representative aligned with one’s wishes for medical decision-making. Membership offers access to forums and events.
What challenges do LGBTQ elders face in finding a trusted individual to discuss their preferences for end-of-life care?
“Your choice of surrogate may be more important than your living will.”
A new workbook by a Minneapolis cardiologist offers guidance and reflective prompts to prepare for conversations with loved ones about end-of-life topics.
“Does the contract allow you to have access to your own doctors? What is the facility’s position on VSED? If you enter hospice, will they commit to providing adequate pain relief? If you live in a state with MAiD, will the facility cooperate?”
“Many of the individuals around the bedside barely know each other, and this becomes an environment of misinformation, mistrust, and hidden agendas about substantial financial and estate issues … as ex-wives and ex-husbands, half siblings who never knew each other, long-time same-sex partners (surprise, who knew?), in-laws, out-laws show up at the bedside.” — Dr. Edward T. Creagan, M.D.
“This committed couple who loved each other through life’s ups and downs were separated when Pat breathed her final breath.”
“Whose wishes for his medical treatment were we to honor? Those of my father back when he was a healthy, highly functioning geneticist? Or those of the simpler, weakened man my father had become?”
“If these five reasons don’t make a strong enough case for physicians to engage with their patients in advance care planning, here’s one more: it is simply the right thing to do.”
