Name: Should everyone have an 'end-of-life' plan? | BBC Ideas
Uploaded: 2021-04-01T17:50:17.000Z
Duration: 5 min 32 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

It's just something we don't like to think about.

To-infinitive

No-one talks about it, no-one really wants to address it.

My husband's very much: "Don't want to talk about it. Nope. You're fine."

I don't want to talk about my death too much with them

because I don't want to make them feel more unhappy.

and then you have to start this conversation.

You don't have the language because you've never talked about it.

You don't have the familiarity, you don't know how to open the question.

planning for different operations if they need to happen,

starting to plan for our end-of-life care.

because more of us have a period where we are dying

So there's a chance to think about what that period will look like.

When those questions are looking back at you

and someone is saying, "What do you want?"

It makes you really sit down and think about

all the places that you might want to have your ashes scattered,

or whether you want to come home and die,

what are you going to do with your animals?

Who's going to look after your husband when you've gone?

that they will be able to speak on behalf of their loved one,

and it's not an automatic thing that they can do that.

It's important that they legally nominate a family member

by making them a lasting power of attorney for health and welfare.

It's a comfort knowing that my parents have power of attorney

and they can make those decisions when I'm not able to

rather than a doctor or somebody who doesn't know me very well.

or, "This is not what I would have wanted" is incredibly helpful.

Legally we can't demand certain treatments,

So people can say they don't want to be resuscitated,

or they don't want to have artificial nutrition.

I think a funeral plan is extremely helpful.

Carl had made one, my husband, before he died.

So we did know what he wanted in his funeral

That kind of practical thing was such a comfort to the family.

instead of having to worry about the 'what ifs'.

We don't turn up and say: "Let's talk about death."

Or: "Tell me what you want if I tell you that you're dying."

You sent me your Advance Care Plan booklet

"Do you want your window open or shut? Or your light on?

And I thought: "No - I can't even think about that."

But it is simply a case of getting things together

you are at the centre and we, as professionals, and your close ones

and family, will do the best we can to make sure you have the care

It's really important that you tell your GP or your healthcare provider

what your preferences are if they relate to medical options.

It's important to let your friends and family know

if it's in a particular part of your house.

Disabled young people don't necessarily want to be focusing

Personally for me I feel like I've spent a lot of time

negotiating my health, negotiating the support that I receive,

and so I want to spend any extra time or extra energy that I have

that I'm doing the things which I think are important.

Within healthcare these days, there's an expectation,

both from healthcare professionals and patients,

that people can have a say about what's important to them.

However that can put a lot of pressure on people

to make sense of quite a vast array of information

and at a time when they actually might want to defer

If we have to, and you're not able to tell us what you want,

we will do what we think is best for you from what we know.

It's not a yes, you've got a plan or no, you haven't.

It's more of a kind of evolution of thinking.

And you can revisit them and change them as your life is progressing

It's a true gift of love because you're taking away that burden.

Put your wishes down, file away, and forget about it.

Focus on the important bits of living and getting on with life.