Talk with Your Parents About How They Want to Die

You may not want to think about funerals at funeral homes in Van Buren, NY, but you should – not only about your own death and funeral, but about the deaths and funerals of your parents. Death seems to be a scary subject for Americans to talk about, so we avoid it at all costs.

But avoiding thinking about, talking about, or planning for death doesn’t keep death from eventually coming. As your parents get older, death draws closer. If they don’t know how they want to die and you don’t know how they want to die, there may be some very agonizing decisions you have to make at the end of their lives, always wondering if you’re making the right choices and this is what your parents would want.

But how do you start the conversation with your parents about how they want to die? It’s not one of those topics that you or your parents will probably just casually bring up while you’re at the dinner table or spending time leisure time together.

Perhaps the easiest way to talk with your parents about how they want to die is to first think about how you want to die and talk with your parents about what you want. Once you open the door to the conversation, your parents most likely will talk with you about how they feel about the choices you’ve made about the way you want to die.

By having this discussion and seeing how your parents react to your wishes about how you want to die, you will be able to get insights into their wishes about how they want to die.

Perhaps you will decide that you want to designate someone to make medical decisions for you if you’re not able to, and you talk with your parents about how you chose the person who will act as your medical proxy.

Your parents may, in turn, start discussing who they would designate to make medical decisions for them if they weren’t able to do it themselves. Then they might talk about what they would want when they are dying.

You might talk with your parents about what you want when your dying. If you’ve gotten a living will, you can explain to your parents that a living will lets them specify what kind of medical intervention they want when death is imminent.

You can let your parents know that they can choose to have every possible medical intervention done to extend or save their lives or that they can choose not to have any medical interventions done, but comfort care provided to alleviate suffering.

You can also talk with your parents about where they want to die. Perhaps you’ve investigated the options and have decided that you want to die at home, in familiar surroundings with the comfort and support of your family. Because of that you’ve decided that you want hospice care at home when you’re dying.

You can let your parents know that they have control over where they die and that they don’t necessarily have to go the hospital when they are reaching the end of their life.

Finally, if you’ve decided about what kind of funeral you want, you can talk to your parents about your plans and perhaps get them talking about their own funeral plans.

For information about planning funerals at funeral homes in Van Buren, NY, our compassionate and experienced team at Bagozzi Twins Funeral Home, Inc. is here to help you.