It’s the ideal time to have these conversations or something. Let’s first define this, since the article sorta dinks and dunks around what “end of life care” means. The National Institute On Aging writes “End-of-life care is the term used to describe the support and medical care given during the time surrounding death.” This could go on for days, weeks, or even months
This Thanksgiving, Carve Out Time To Talk About End-Of-Life Wishes
The roast turkey and pecan pie may be the same as always, but growing numbers of families plan to add a tradition to their Thanksgiving holiday this week: a frank talk about their wishes for end-of-life care.
Paul Malley, president of Aging with Dignity, the agency behind Five Wishes, a popular living will template, says requests for the documents that guide decisions surrounding serious illness and death typically surge starting now.
“We see a bit of a Thanksgiving rush and a bit of a Christmas rush in December,” says Malley, who notes that 30 million copies of Five Wishes have been distributed since 1998.
Now, turkey dinner with a side dish of death isn’t everyone’s idea of a festive meal. But end-of-life planning advocates say the holidays are an ideal time to have these conversations.
No. Just stop. These people. Good grief.
While it’s an important topic, it’s not really the thing you discuss on Thanksgiving, especially between dinner and desert, just because the family is all gathered together.
Goodman says sees a shift in the culture surrounding end-of-life wishes, even in the five years since The Conversation Project started.
Back then, the specter of “death panels” nearly derailed Obamacare. Today, end-of-life conversations are being paid for by Medicare and books like Atul Gawande’s Being Mortal have topped the best-seller list.
In other words, we need the Helpful Hand Of Government to enable these conversations. Sigh.
Meanwhile
It’s Your Civic Duty to Ruin Thanksgiving by Bringing Up Trump
It’s late-November 2017, and you know what that means: Every man you’ve ever seen on TV for any reason has just been unmasked as a woman-hating sewer ghoul. Also, it’s time to ruin your Trump-supporting family’s Thanksgiving—for America!
These frickin’ people.
Crossed at Right Wing News.
I guess their notion is that family is all together, in person…
But still seems macabre at Thanksgiving or Christmas. In any event we oldsters should make sure we have a Will and also Advanced Directives to take the burden off our children and/or caretakers.
http://time.com/money/2793643/cutting-the-high-cost-of-end-of-life-care/
25% of Medicare dollars are spent on 6% of recipients at the end of life.
Wills are essential, and there are other ways to simplify the estate. If you know who you want your house to go to (other than a reverse mortgage outfit) you can quitclaim it to add their name to a new deed as joint-tenant with right of survivorship.
(Wait until you’re sure you’ll keep it to the end though; a joint tenant can make trouble if you decide to sell or reverse-mortgage.)
End-of-life directives should be made, but it takes a real sourpuss to advocate making that Thanksgiving dinner table talk.