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Chris Wilkinson: The legal side of ageing

By Chris Wilkinson
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Getting documents in place detailing your wishes, and who you want to make decisions for you if you can’t, is important as you age. (submitted)

By Chris Wilkinson

I meet with many senior couples and their families. Toward the end of our initial consultation the question about health care decision making and legal decision making usually comes up.

When I ask the question about what documents are in place — sometimes there is a pause. You see, we usually know what our loved one’s wishes are, as they’ve mentioned it to us at some point, but that’s often not clear enough for health professionals. Plans and wishes need to be written, often on an official document. Or at the very least, a Power of Attorney document and Representation Agreement need to be in place.

Power of Attorney (POA) documents are for financial and legal matters only. You pick someone you want to act as the ‘attorney’ to make financial/legal decisions for you if you are not able to. Increasingly, it is the ‘enduring’ POA that is enacted these days. ‘Enduring’ means that the POA agreement continues (endures) when the individual in question becomes incapable (e.g. dementia) of making their own decisions effectively. You can give very general powers in the POA agreement, or you can be very specific (e.g. POA individual can only perform individual, outlined tasks like depositing monthly pension cheques in your account).

It is important to understand that POA documents are only for financial and legal matters. Not health care decisions. The Representation Agreement is for health care decisions. Future health care wishes can be detailed in the Representation Agreement, but primarily it is for you to appoint someone you trust who is willing to make health care decisions on your behalf if you become unable or incapable of making such decisions independently.

The POA and Representation Agreement documents are sought through a lawyer.

A third and separate document is the ‘Do Not Resuscitate’ (DNR) Order. It is a document that clarifies that no CPR will be performed in the event of cardiac or respiratory arrest. This is a document that is sought through, and signed by, your physician. Increasingly, people are choosing to be more clear about their wishes and future health care and legal/financial decisions, hence the importance of these three documents.

It is common for us to encounter situations with aging seniors whereby none of these documents are in place. It makes for difficult decisions for family members when a loved one’s health declines.

I was speaking with an estate lawyer this week and simply asked, “When should people get these documents done?”. He suggests to his clients to get the POA and Representation Agreements done soon after turning 50. The DNR order document is more important later, when concerns around health start to arise.

I encourage seniors to have these discussions with family members, their physician, and legal counsel. Part of intelligent aging is having the proper directions in place for family members or substitute decision makers when the inevitable happens. Don’t avoid it; plan for it.

If you have any questions about the legal side of aging, drop me a line and I’ll get your questions answered. Email me at NurseNextDoorCowichan@shaw.ca