Hi I am new to the Forum and would appreciate the advice/experience of anyone who can help with this.
My mother was diagnoised with Dementia with Lewy Body a few years ago. She has been living in a residential care home until recently but had a fall a few weeks ago and is now in hospital. She is unable to get out of bed without a hoist - and is hoisted into a chair and back again. She needs to be turned every two hours to prevent pressure sores. She is doubly incontinent, has to be hand fed and coaxed to even eat or drink a mouthful. She is having hallucinations and is terribly confused with an inability to understand instructions or make herself known. Yet she has been deemed "medically fit" by the hospital nursing assessment team!
We are now looking to move her into a nursing home.
My sister and I have Enduring Power of Attorney for my mother which we have activated. We also have two letters which my sister drafted and she signed (both countersigned by my sister and I) stating that she "did not wish to be resusciated or kept alive mechincally , if that was the joint decision of her daughters". These letters were not witnessed by an outsider or a GP. They were written and signed in the first year following mum's diagnosis when she was still living relatively independently at home and certainly knew what she was signing.
Does anyone have any experience of whether these letters will mean my sister and I will have the right to determine my mother's treatment in the event of resusication and being kept alive mechanically? Do we need to take any further action or can we just lodge these letters and a copy of the Enduring Power of Attorney with the nursing home?
I really appreciate the advice of anyone who has been in the same sad situation as we now find ourselves in....
many thanks
My mother was diagnoised with Dementia with Lewy Body a few years ago. She has been living in a residential care home until recently but had a fall a few weeks ago and is now in hospital. She is unable to get out of bed without a hoist - and is hoisted into a chair and back again. She needs to be turned every two hours to prevent pressure sores. She is doubly incontinent, has to be hand fed and coaxed to even eat or drink a mouthful. She is having hallucinations and is terribly confused with an inability to understand instructions or make herself known. Yet she has been deemed "medically fit" by the hospital nursing assessment team!
We are now looking to move her into a nursing home.
My sister and I have Enduring Power of Attorney for my mother which we have activated. We also have two letters which my sister drafted and she signed (both countersigned by my sister and I) stating that she "did not wish to be resusciated or kept alive mechincally , if that was the joint decision of her daughters". These letters were not witnessed by an outsider or a GP. They were written and signed in the first year following mum's diagnosis when she was still living relatively independently at home and certainly knew what she was signing.
Does anyone have any experience of whether these letters will mean my sister and I will have the right to determine my mother's treatment in the event of resusication and being kept alive mechanically? Do we need to take any further action or can we just lodge these letters and a copy of the Enduring Power of Attorney with the nursing home?
I really appreciate the advice of anyone who has been in the same sad situation as we now find ourselves in....
many thanks