#IWantAPeacefulDeath: promoting the protection of DNACPR forms

I've been meaning to start producing more educational/prompting posters for the public about end-of-life planning: there's only one chance to get dying right, and in the UK today, a peaceful death is something you literally have to opt-in to. This is why we need to #havetheconversation when someone's life is predictably drawing to a close - and ideally as soon as it's clear someone's body is tired, and a resuscitation attempt would be unwise and/or unwanted.

In my experience - confirming what the medical literature says - old people don't have many hang-ups about talking about dying... after all, they've been going to funerals regularly since they were 70 in the same way we went to weddings what seemed like every summer weekend in our 20s and 30s! Instead, it's often their middle-aged family members who struggle with the idea of mum or dad having a Do Not Attempt Resuscitation form. I understand that - none of us like to think of our parents' time on earth being limited - but it does make me sad to think some older people hold off asking for a DNACPR because they think it will upset their kids, whereas the protection of a DNACPR form is so very important to get in place well before it seems to be needed.

So, here's the latest poster - you can download the full-resolution PDF below (click on the thumbnail) or from the Planning For The End of Life page (if you're reading this on a mobile and the link to that page doesn't work, it's a sub-page from the #HaveTheConversation page in this website's main menu) - it would be lovely if people were to print off a nice colour copy, laminate it, and offer it to the novice boards in doctors' surgeries, community venues, public libraries etc.

Bonus points if you know where the photo was taken..!