Don’t wait until a crisis occurs before you get your elderly parents’ healthcare house in order.
Navigating a complex healthcare system for yourself can be very daunting, but things get even more complicated when working on behalf of an aging parent or when an adult child is working on your behalf.
In general, it’s easier to talk about it when there isn’t a crisis,” said Pamela D. Wilson, a caregiving expert, expert witness and consultant.
“So in a perfect world … people could talk about this when nothing was happening, like nobody’s sick, everybody’s good,” Wilson said.
But that can be a difficult conversation to have, so Wilson suggests the topic of the discussion be centered on how to plan for healthcare decision-making for both the parent and the child, as opposed to just the parents.
Wilson said to say to the parents, “I realize I haven’t made plans for what happens when I get older. Mom and Dad, we should talk about this for you.”
Such an approach can feel less confrontational to parents who are reluctant to discuss end-of-life matters with their adult children.
And though it may not seem like the best course of action in the immediate future, keeping decisions transparent can ease matters for all involved in the long run. The people who were left out can feel like information is being hidden or they’re not getting enough information.
“Lack of transparency causes a lot of problems,” Wilson said. decision-making