Advance Care Planning

Advance Care Planning:  April 16 is Advance Care Planning day in Canada. 

Advance Care Planning is the process of making a Health Care Directive and Appointing a Proxy.  This is something we often think is for older people or when we become chronically or terminally ill; however, no one really knows when we may need them. Both The Saskatchewan Health Authority,  and Advance Care Planning Canada have information about advance care planning for the province and nationally.  It is about the conversations and about wishes.  Advance Care Planning is part of Estate Planning. 

Estate planning is when we appoint a power of attorney, prepare a will, appoint an executor, creating a health care directive, or asking someone we trust to be a substitute decision maker, or proxy, is not often in the top 5 things we want to talk about but is one of the important tasks to complete as an adult before we lose capacity.  It is right up there with doing our taxes. These can be confusing and can cause issues if we don’t understand them. 

Let’s clarify what each of these important tasks are and why they are so important to complete:  

In Saskatchewan it is recommended to ask a lawyer to assist you to appoint a power of attorney and make your final will and testament.  These documents may not be honoured by financial institutions if they have not been completed by a lawyer even though there are non-lawyer forms available online.  A substitute decision maker and health care directive do not require a lawyer to prepare one. 

A will and testament is the document that is used after a person passes away.  Lawyers may not be needed to create a will in Saskatchewan if your estate is not complicated, you do not have legal dependents, a business, a blended family, or if you complete a holographic will that is hand written and signed by you.  Anyone over 18 years of age that has capacity can create a will.  Video or audio recordings are not considered legal in Saskatchewan. You must sign and date it at the end with two witnesses that are not beneficiaries or spouse of a beneficiary of the will.  Your witnesses must sign when you are present.  Most legal professionals will encourage you to speak with a lawyer when creating legal documents to ensure they are legal when they are needed.  There is specific legislation for each of these legal documents that is important to be aware of when you decide to create them. 

A power of attorney is the document you create where you give a person, 18 or older, the authority to make personal or financial decisions for you when you are not able to.  There are different types of power of attorney and the power of attorney needs to act in your best interests when making them.  The power of attorney can include being an attorney over property, finances, or health care decisions. It can be specific to any one of or include all of these. It is important to be specific when you are creating a power of attorney document or speak with your lawyer, about what you want in your documents and who you trust to carry out these tasks for you.  Power of attorney documents do not typically include health care decision making but if indicated in our power of attorney document your power of attorney will also be asked to make medical decisions for you if you not able to.  These documents can end or be changed at any time the person making them has capacity.  A power of attorney document is no longer in effect when someone passes away. 

Advance Care Planning includes making a health care directive and appointing a substitute decision maker or proxy in Saskatchewan.  Anyone 16 or older, with capacity, can create their own health care directive and/or appoint a proxy.  You appoint proxy or proxies to make decisions together or list them to make decisions in the order you listed them.  You are the only person who can create your own directive and appoint your proxy and you do not need a legal form to complete either of them.  As long as you sign and date the paper you wrote them on they are legal.  When you create a new document, the old ones are no longer legal.  You do not need to complete both:  You can appoint a proxy and not create a health care directive.  If you do not appoint a proxy there is legislation health care professionals will follow in order to find someone to be the substitute decision maker. This list does not include cousins, blended family members, or close friends. 

A health care directive can be specific or general: Meaning, you can write a health care directive that is specific to a medial chronic or terminal diagnosis you have or you can make it general for what medical treatments or interventions you may or may not want if you are not able to make a medical decision for yourself.  

A proxy or substitute decision maker will not be asked to make a medical decision for you if you are able to make your decision.  There may be times if you become very ill, need surgery, are in an accident, become unconscious, or incapacitated, that your medical team will need to speak with someone to direct your care.  The role of a substitute decision maker ends when you regain capacity.  

It is important to talk with your proxy and loved ones about what is important to you in your life.  Tell them what matters most to you, what you value most and is a priority for you.  Just because we love someone does not mean we know what they would want for medical treatments and interventions.  These are important conversation to have and take courage to have as we age, our life circumstances change, or as our priorities change.  Dr. Martin Welsh shared his personal thoughts in Consider the Conversations.  He had ALS and shared how his life changed throughout his illness. We can learn a lot about ourselves as we talk with our loved ones about what is important to us.  Advance Care Planning Australia shares love is not enough in a video they have. 

If you are curious about the legal side of estate planning PLEA has information you can look at.  

PLEA or The Public Legal Education Association of Saskatchewan is a non-profit, non-government organization that has education materials to help non-legal professionals learn about legal matters in Saskatchewan. There is a complete section for future planning available on their website that includes wills, power of attorney, and health care directives.  It is important to seek legal advice and health care professionals when seeking to complete any of these documents.

Blog Post By: Bren Schock, Registered Social Worker with Wildflowers Therapy