Palliverse is lucky to have a guest submission from rural General Practitioner (GP) Jonathan Ramachenderan, who reflects here on his role as a GP Anaesthetist, with an interest in aged care and palliative care. (He is currently undertaking further training in palliative medicine.) By luck, his post about peri-operative advance care planning (ACP) coincides with World Anaesthesia Day (16th October) and this year’s theme in Australia and New Zealand is “Anaesthesia and Ageing.”
“There is a real chance that your mum will not survive this operation” I said frankly to Sue.*
Her expression changed immediately to one of disbelief and she replied “What do you mean?!”
“The surgeon said to me that all mum needed was to have her hip fixed and then she would be fine to return back home to the village…I really thought she’d be home pretty soon, I wasn’t expecting you to say this.”
Patiently and well-practiced I said “I am sorry to tell you this but….”
Just then our surgeon burst into our little meeting room (the medication room on the ward). He was smiling, diffusing any thought that I had that I was delaying the operation by talking at length with Ingrid’s daughter.
Sue turned to him and said, “You didn’t tell me that mum may die during or after this operation.”
Her question caught him off guard and his expression changed rapidly to one of seriousness mixed with concern. “Jonathan is right, there is a chance your mum may not leave hospital even after we repair her hip fracture. Given her age, medical issues and frail state, her chances of returning home are significantly reduced”.
This changed the tone of the meeting as it brought into view the real implication of Ingrid undergoing this operation.
The conversation that followed was an important discussion about Ingrid’s stated end of life wishes and how this related to the specific complications of having her hip fracture repaired. Ingrid, aged 85 years old, had importantly completed an Advance Health Directive 3 years earlier with her GP, when she had begun to notice subtle changes in her memory and wanted to make sure her end of life wishes were known. Since then her mobility, general health and memory had declined, which led her to move into a “low level care” village environment, which had revived her zest and enthusiasm for life with the many interesting people and activities. She had suffered a mild heart attack a few years earlier and her breathlessness had recently restricted her movement to only around the house. But a sudden change of direction in the shower had caused her to slip and fall heavily, breaking her right hip. Standing in that cool medication room on the busy ward, Sue understood the true impact of her mother’s accident and the implications of the proposed operative management.
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