• Margaret Brown, Mary A Brooksbank, Teresa A Burgess, Mary Young, and Gregory B Crawford.
• Hawke Research Institute, University of South Australia. margaret.brown@unisa.edu.au
• J Law Med. 2012 Dec 1;20(2):400-9.

AbstractAdvance care-planning conversations with people who have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are important because of the severity of the disease and the unpredictable timing of death. Advance care-planning is a process involving conversations about future wishes, including end-of-life care and the appointment of a substitute decision-maker. This qualitative research explored issues relating to end-of-life decisions with 15 individuals and their carers living in the community who had severe COPD. Findings indicated that, although patients and carers would welcome the opportunity to discuss end-of-life decisions, almost no conversation about care-planning had been initiated by health professionals with any of the participants. It also demonstrated that professional support is required to assist with advance care-planning and the completion of the legal advance directive documents.

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