Not an easy decisions to make

As mentioned in a previous newsletter (link), having a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) can help if you lose mental capacity in the future. Unfortunately,

this important provision for old age is often overlooked until it’s too late to put one in place. Advance care planning allows you to make choices and decisions about your future care in case there is a time when you can't make them for yourself. LPAs are just one way to plan ahead. Decisions about a person's health and welfare are not particularly easy decisions to make, especially when a person is making them on behalf of someone who lacks capacity to make those decisions themselves. An attorney that you have appointed can help make decisions about:

• where you should live

• your medical care

• what you should eat

• daily routine, for example washing, dressing and eating

• who you should have contact with

• what kind of social activities you should take part in

You can also give special permission for your attorney to make decisions about accepting or refusing life-saving or life-sustainment treatment. If you do not have a health and welfare LPA and you lack capacity to make such decisions yourself, a family member will be faced with applying to the Court of Protection for a Deputyship Order. What many people do not know however, is that Health and Welfare Deputyship Orders are granted much more sparingly and many are rejected by the Court. The Court will only appoint a Health and Welfare Deputy as a last resort, and it is much more expensive and time consuming compared with having a Health and Welfare LPA. To find out more about Health and Welfare LPAs, call me on +44 7831 379562 (UK) or +34  622 374 738 (Spain), or email me at help@sallyherdman.com.