Anthony Vella is a 46-year-old man diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. Which now has been said that further chemotherapy will be ineffective. Anthony’s health status had been carefully managed by the palliative care team and have been working with Anthony to explore his care needs and end-of-life decisions. His symptoms (severe nausea and abdominal pain) have improved until he was admitted to the Emergency department after collapsing at the shopping centre. At this stage, it is suggested by healthcare professionals that an
Advanced Care Planning (ACP) should be undertaken even though Anthony addressed to the nurse he will “need more time to consider it”. It will be further discussed throughout this essay, the benefits of ACP, …show more content…
It is also said that there is no right time to start the discussion on end of life care, although it is preferred to be started on the earliest possible occasion (Almack, Cox, Moghaddam, Pollock, & Seymour, 2012).
Therefore, it is significant to discuss and communicate with the family about such information. It may also be appropriate to negotiate with Anthony an agreed plan of
continuing treatment and further discussion in the near future.
In Victoria there are three components which make up an advance care plan. These include selecting a Medical Power of Attorney, documenting and attaching refusal of treatment forms or informing an advance care plan directive about the treatment wishes to be made for them
(Components of Advance Care Planning (ACP) in Victoria, 2016).
Anthony could elect an enduring medical power of attorney to make medical decisions on his behalf once he has lost the ‘capacity’ to make the decisions himself. The substitute decision maker aims to focus towards the patient goals of medical treatments and also to direct the patient to making the right decisions when they have lost function or capacity to do so (Enduring Medical Power of Attorney, 2016). If the treatments or care are against Anthony’s beliefs, values and quality of life, refusal of treatment forms is offered. Refusing medical treatment could only be accepted if the patient has the capacity at …show more content…
This document outlines the wishes of the patient to inform their substitute decision maker or doctor in making the decisions for them. The document could include treatment preferences, unwanted treatments or preferences on dying at home during the end-of-life phase (Components of Advance Care Planning (ACP) in Victoria, 2016) & (Guidelines for end-of-life care and decision-making, 2005). After clarifying the purpose and process of ACP to Anthony, he may freely choose who will be his substitute decision maker after selecting a medical power of attorney. In this case scenario, the power of attorney can be his wife or any one of his
Advanced Care Planning (ACP) should be undertaken even though Anthony addressed to the nurse he will “need more time to consider it”. It will be further discussed throughout this essay, the benefits of ACP, …show more content…
It is also said that there is no right time to start the discussion on end of life care, although it is preferred to be started on the earliest possible occasion (Almack, Cox, Moghaddam, Pollock, & Seymour, 2012).
Therefore, it is significant to discuss and communicate with the family about such information. It may also be appropriate to negotiate with Anthony an agreed plan of
continuing treatment and further discussion in the near future.
In Victoria there are three components which make up an advance care plan. These include selecting a Medical Power of Attorney, documenting and attaching refusal of treatment forms or informing an advance care plan directive about the treatment wishes to be made for them
(Components of Advance Care Planning (ACP) in Victoria, 2016).
Anthony could elect an enduring medical power of attorney to make medical decisions on his behalf once he has lost the ‘capacity’ to make the decisions himself. The substitute decision maker aims to focus towards the patient goals of medical treatments and also to direct the patient to making the right decisions when they have lost function or capacity to do so (Enduring Medical Power of Attorney, 2016). If the treatments or care are against Anthony’s beliefs, values and quality of life, refusal of treatment forms is offered. Refusing medical treatment could only be accepted if the patient has the capacity at …show more content…
This document outlines the wishes of the patient to inform their substitute decision maker or doctor in making the decisions for them. The document could include treatment preferences, unwanted treatments or preferences on dying at home during the end-of-life phase (Components of Advance Care Planning (ACP) in Victoria, 2016) & (Guidelines for end-of-life care and decision-making, 2005). After clarifying the purpose and process of ACP to Anthony, he may freely choose who will be his substitute decision maker after selecting a medical power of attorney. In this case scenario, the power of attorney can be his wife or any one of his