The importance of end-of-life planning

I HAVE a close relative who was recently and suddenly diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. Unfortunately, after one session of chemotherapy, the side effects caused him to hallucinate and one night, he fell and fractured his hip.

Within a span of a few weeks, his condition deteriorated. He could not feed himself, go to the toilet on his own to move his bowels and take a shower. He also could not walk and transfer himself from the bed to the wheelchair and vice-versa. Neither could he dress himself. Not only did he lose his quality of life, he also could no longer make sound decisions.

The family brought him home from hospital to care for him and this caused a lot of mental stress, physical strain, and misunderstandings. While he had drawn up his will before he fell ill to give instructions on his estate matters upon his demise, he did not make plans for how he would like to be cared for and how his properties should be managed should he be terminally ill or mentally incapacitated.