Palliative Care Australia
Services offered
Palliative care
Overview
Planning ahead is important at this time and can help you feel more in control.
This often includes planning for your future health care (advance care planning), making a will, and making important legal, financial and personal decisions. You might also think about how you want to say goodbye to those you love and care about.
What’s on this page
Planning for the end of life
Taking steps to plan for the end of life can be both rewarding and difficult. It may help you to feel more in control of the situation or you may wish to ease the burden on family members or friends.
Organising your paperwork
Having all of your paperwork up to date and in one place will make it easier if a family member has to help you with financial and legal matters. Important documents might include:
- social media logins and passwords
- birth, marriage or divorce certificates and passport
- bank, investment and credit card details
- Centrelink and Medicare details
- superannuation and insurance details
- house title/lease and loan details (e.g. house, car)
- will and funeral information
- advance care planning documents.
Let someone close to you know who you have nominated as beneficiaries and how to contact your lawyer, if you have one.
What to consider when getting your affairs in order
These questions can help you to work out the various things you need to consider or organise. Write a to-do list or use these pages as a checklist.
Financial/legal matters
Financial/legal matters
- Have you made arrangements for your financial affairs?
- Do you want someone to make legal or financial decisions for you if you are not able to?
- Have you appointed a power of attorney?
- Does someone know where important papers or valuables are stored in the home or elsewhere?
- Do you have a valid will?
- If you have life insurance, is the beneficiary information up to date?
- If you have superannuation, have you nominated a binding beneficiary? This person must be your dependant. If it is a “lapsing” nomination, you must confirm it in writing every 3 years, so check when you did this last.
Relationships
Relationships
- Who would you like to see before you become too sick? Are there people you want to see or speak to? Any family or friends you want to connect with?
- If you’d like to prepare letters or video messages for family or friends, have you done so?
- Who would you like to have around you as you get closer to death? Do they know? Are there people you don’t want around?
- Are there unresolved issues that you would like to sort out with particular people? Do you need help or mediation to talk to estranged family or friends?
- Have you left the instructions and passwords for your social media accounts somewhere or given them to someone to safeguard?
Medical care
Medical care
- Are there certain treatments that you don’t want to have?
- Are there outcomes of specific medical situations (e.g. life support) that you would find unacceptable?
- Have you discussed your wishes for end-of-life care with your family, carers and health professionals?
- Have you considered who can make decisions about your care if you’re not able to make them yourself?
- Have you recorded your wishes for future medical care in an advance care directive?
- Have you appointed a substitute decision-maker?
Spiritual issues
Spiritual issues
- Are there any cultural, spiritual or religious practices that you would like carried out before or after your death?
- Is there a special place you would like to visit if possible? If you are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, is it important to return to Country?
- Who do you need to ask to make sure that what you want will happen?
- Do you want a minister, priest, rabbi, imam or other spiritual practitioner present when you are dying?
- Do you want to be buried or cremated? Where do you want to be buried?
- Do you have a burial plot? Would you like to have your ashes scattered in a specific place?
- What are your preferences for a funeral or memorial service?
- Have you shared your wishes with family and friends?
Donating organs and tissue
Organ and tissue donation is possible for some people with cancer, depending on the cancer type and spread. You will need to organise paperwork for this ahead of time.
Ultimately, whether your organs or tissue can be used will be decided by a doctor after the death. You need to be in a hospital to donate organs but this isn’t necessary for tissue. To record your wish to donate tissue or organs, visit DonateLife.
Share your decision with your family as they will be asked to give their consent after your death.
Relevant support
Read cancer information
Trusted cancer information for all people affected by cancer
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