End-of-Life Documents: Why They Matter

Among the cremation services offered in Roanoke, VA is guidance with end-of-life documents, especially if you’re preplanning your cremation. A will gets executed after you die, but it will not govern anything that happens at the end of life before you die. 

First, instead of a will, consider doing a revocable trust that will allow someone you trust to handle legal and financial matters for you if you are alive, but not able to do so, and after your death. A revocable trust can be changed at any time, if you decide to change the person you want to look after your interests. The reason a revocable trust works better than a will is that it will ensure that your estate is managed if you suffer a tragic accident or develop dementia that impairs your cognition. 

Have a regular living will and a dementia living will. As long as it’s signed and dated, it’s a legal document. Living wills give you the ability to specify what measures you want taken if you are dying. Be sure that your primary care physician has a copy. 

Designate a medical power of attorney. This document is legal as long as it’s signed and dated. This document lets you specify someone to handle your medical care if you’re not able to do it. Make sure the person that you choose has your complete medical history and an update list of medications and current health conditions that you are being treated for. 

Once you’ve chosen someone to have your medical power of attorney, make sure that they have a copy of the medical power of attorney and your living will. They should keep these on hand at all times and make sure that they present them in all situations where medical care is being provided. 

Next, you should get your primary care physician to do a standing order for life sustaining treatment that will become a permanent part of your medical record. This document is called “Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment” (POLST). You can also have your doctor write a “Do Not Resuscitate” (DNR) order and a “Do Not Intubate” (DNI) as well, which will also become part of your medical record (keep a copy of all these and make sure your medical power of attorney has copies them). 

Diminishing capacity letters are a newer addition to end-of-life care documents, but with the explosion of dementia in the last 20 or 30 years, it’s a good document to create and give to your primary care physician. The letter gives permission to professionals (lawyers, doctors, bankers, etc.) to call specific people you trust (medical power of attorney and/or certain family members) if they notice a decline in your psychological, cognitive, mental, or physical capacities. 

If you want to be an organ donor, make sure to sign up online at the National Organ Donor Registry, since your driver’s license may not make it to the hospital if you are in a life-threatening situation. Emergency rooms typically will check the registry to see if patients are organ donors. 

If you don’t have life insurance, then now is the time to get it so that your family will have some financial security after your death. Some companies offer life insurance, but it usually is not for a large amount or covers only deaths that occur while conducting company business. If you have a mortgage, car payments, and credit card debt, be sure that the amount of the policy will pay all of these off. Although term life insurance policies have less expensive payments, they usually will pay out only up to a certain age, while whole life insurance policies pay out the full amount, no matter how old you are when you die. 

For additional guidance for end-of-life documents and other cremation services in Roanoke, VA, our caring and knowledgeable staff at Lynch Conner-Bowman Funeral Home can assist you. You can visit our funeral home at 140 Floyd Ave., Rocky Mount, VA, 24151, or you can call us today at (540) 483-5533.