SumDay
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
- Joined
- Aug 9, 2012
- Messages
- 1,862
I was just in this thread talking about long term care insurance.
It got me thinking of the last days of my parents' lives, and how unbelievably stressful it was dealing with the nursing home and hospital.
Both had living wills and health care directives and I had full POA on each. They might as well not have - I had to fight tooth and nail to have their wishes respected.
For example, my mom was 92, paralyzed from the waist down from a stroke, she was suffering from congestive heart failure, and Alzheimer's, and couldn't even remember that my dad had died. Every time she passed gas they rushed her to the hospital. They spent thousands of dollars of Medicare $$ to keep her in physical therapy. She was private pay, so I'm pretty sure that's why they were so fond of her. I had to threaten to sue to get her into hospice and stop rushing her to the ER for tests, etc.
DH and I are thinking of writing a narrative about what we consider to be quality of life, just to make it easier on our kids when battling with the medical profession. For example, mine would say "if you have to use the word DIAPER in the same sentence with my name, then, please don't treat me for anything, EVER."
Anyone done anything like this? Think it would be helpful?
And what experiences have you had with enforcing living wills and health care directives? Just wondering if my cases were isolated.
It got me thinking of the last days of my parents' lives, and how unbelievably stressful it was dealing with the nursing home and hospital.
Both had living wills and health care directives and I had full POA on each. They might as well not have - I had to fight tooth and nail to have their wishes respected.
For example, my mom was 92, paralyzed from the waist down from a stroke, she was suffering from congestive heart failure, and Alzheimer's, and couldn't even remember that my dad had died. Every time she passed gas they rushed her to the hospital. They spent thousands of dollars of Medicare $$ to keep her in physical therapy. She was private pay, so I'm pretty sure that's why they were so fond of her. I had to threaten to sue to get her into hospice and stop rushing her to the ER for tests, etc.
DH and I are thinking of writing a narrative about what we consider to be quality of life, just to make it easier on our kids when battling with the medical profession. For example, mine would say "if you have to use the word DIAPER in the same sentence with my name, then, please don't treat me for anything, EVER."
Anyone done anything like this? Think it would be helpful?
And what experiences have you had with enforcing living wills and health care directives? Just wondering if my cases were isolated.