Consultant: When planning palliative care and end of life issues, you must involve these people:

1) Involve the patient as much as possible
2) Talk to the spouse/partner
3) Talk to the daughter who lives in Melbourne and cares about father/mother
4) Talk to the eldest son who doesn't care but must know about everything

And last of all:

Call the dysfunctional daughter who lives in Sydney because if you don't, she will be the one who screws everything up

With age, comes wisdom =D