EOL Planning ????

[frayne]

End of life planning ?

Look we are all taking the dirt nap just some sooner than others but eventually we will all be worm food.

With that in mind are you satisfied that you have done a good end of life plan for your heirs ?

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by frayne With that in mind are you satisfied that you have done a good end of life plan for your heirs ?

Nope. I want it to be a surprise.

[RobbieB]

I don't have any heirs yet, maybe one day.

[Ronnieboy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobbieB I don't have any heirs yet, maybe one day.

That you know of....

[Bamaman]

1. Write a will disposing of your assets as you like.
2. Write a living will.
3. Make sure any 401K's/IRA's and life insurance policies have the proper beneficiaries.
4. Spend as much money as you can now. No reason to leave the wife enough money to keep up her boyfriend in the manner he doesn't deserve.
5. Tell the family how you want to be buried or make other arrangements. Leave enough life insurance and/or cash to plant you--for a lack of better words.

[braumeister]

I'm taking it with me.

[gcgang]

https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/publi...care-decisions

Above link to National Institute on Health has great info.

[harley]

Sarah posted this great list of things to be aware regarding EOL. I've got a lot to do to get ready, although I've made a decent start. When we get back to FL this winter I'm going to meet with a lawyer to get a new will and living will and such taken care of. Miles to go before I sleep (I hope).

[rodi]

I have healthcare POA in place. As well as a living trust.

I have notarized my request to the local medical school to donate my body. (I don't need my body when I'm dead... so harvest any usable organs, then let a med student practice on my cadaver... They need to learn somewhere.

I've told DH, family, and friends that I want a 'celebration of life' type party rather than a depressing funeral type thing.

So, yeah... I think I have it covered.

I took care of all of this after my dad and my brother died within 3 months of each other. Obviously, I realized it was important.

[athena53]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rodi I have notarized my request to the local medical school to donate my body. (I don't need my body when I'm dead... so harvest any usable organs, then let a med student practice on my cadaver... They need to learn somewhere.

You may need to choose one or the other. Our local medical school wants cadavers with all the organs intact (one exception is that corneas may be harvested for transplanting). The guy across the street just got a new heart after a LONG wait; I'm going for organ donation. Just make sure your nearest and dearest know since medical schools and organ donation people want to get there ASAP and do what they need to do with your remains.

[Meadbh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rodi I have notarized my request to the local medical school to donate my body. (I don't need my body when I'm dead... so harvest any usable organs, then let a med student practice on my cadaver... They need to learn somewhere.

Kudos on your generosity, rodi. I was one of those medical students. As athena53 said, your choices are mutually exclusive. It's difficult to learn anatomy if the organs you are studying are missing!

[braumeister]

Donating my carcass turned out to be more difficult than I expected. The local med school has a very involved procedure. First you send them a very thick package of notarized forms that include an amazing list of conditions. Then after you're accepted and they have you in their system, they must be notified within hours, and of course you must be within a very short radius of miles from them. At that point, they have the option to accept it or reject it for any reason. So planning to do this is problematic.

[Walt34]

We had a local elder law attorney write up new will, general/financial POA, Health POA, forms for disposition of remains, and such a few years ago after FIL's passing. Dealing with all that made us realize how important it is for the ones you leave behind.

[Beldar]

If you have sepsis when you die many institutions will not accept your corpse for any type of donation.

SIL passed away from lung cancer & had sepsis infection. We had to cremate her as the university would not go near the body.

DW & I are going the corpsicle route, no worries there.

_B

[zinger1457]

Anyone use the "Five Wishes" form? Never heard of it until my recent annual checkup when my doctor gave me a copy and suggested I fill it out. It's suppose to meet the legal requirements of a living will in 42 states. It requires two witnesses to sign it and also needs to be notarized.

[rodi]

Fortunately, our local medical school is UCSD - very close by. My grandmother, mother, and father all donated their bodies to UCSD. My mom's body had all the organs (non donated) - but she had an open wound from surgery on her abdomen because of a ruptured colon. She was septic - UCSD took the body. My dad died of septic pneumonia as a complication from treatment for multiple myeloma. They used his cornea and skin (for burn patients) but UCSD took the body. My grandmother was very old (91) and had a variety of ailments but as far as I know didn't have a septic infection. I doubt her organs were worth much. Both my parents had cancer - so I doubt their organs would have been accepted (other than skin and cornea).

My husband and sister both know my wishes... Use anything to save another life (or improve the quality of another's life) - anything left that UCSD will take - they can have... If not, cremation.

It's not that generous... I've never understood people wanting to preserve or hold onto their body when they are dead (and therefore don't need it anymore.) The idea of embalming and planting gives me the heebie jeebies.

[athena53]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Walt34 We had a local elder law attorney write up new will, general/financial POA, Health POA, forms for disposition of remains, and such a few years ago after FIL's passing. Dealing with all that made us realize how important it is for the ones you leave behind.

It's also best done when you don't need it. DH and I set up a trust, wills, healthcare POA, all that stuff a few years ago. He was diagnosed with leukemia a few months ago and it's not responding to treatment and it's a relief that everything is in place already and I don't have to get him to an attorney and deal with questions that are much closer to becoming reality now.

Yesterday I listened to a Planet Money podcast on the town of Lacrosse, WI, where 96% of the people who die have Advanced Care Directives, compared to 30% anywhere else. It's largely due to the efforts of a medical ethicist at a local hospital, who got staff to routinely ask people if they had them in place. They were careful to point out that this was not in the hospital's best interests at all; most people chose far less invasive treatments in their Directives than the average well-meaning relatives would choose for them, so it actually decreases revenue.