Record number of LPAs registered as Covid-19 prompts hard look at end-of-life issues
https://www.straitstimes.com/life/record-number-of-lpas-registered-as-covid-19-prompts-hard-look-at-end-of-life-issues
Senior Correspondent
6 February 2022, Sunday
SINGAPORE - Five years ago, the Estrops started planning their wills.
They were "very specific" about what they wanted to bequeath, says Mrs Evon Estrop, 60, the managing director of CS Mobility, a firm that provides relocation services for expatriates. Her husband Peter Estrop, a retired chief warrant officer in the Singapore Armed Forces, is 62.
Then work and caregiving responsibilities put their plans on hold.
The couple's widowed mothers fell ill with cancer in recent years, dying within three weeks of each other in 2020.
The Estrops finally made their wills in February last year.
On their lawyer's advice, they also registered their Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA).
The LPA is a legal document that allows a person who is at least 21 years old (known as a "donor") to voluntarily appoint one or more persons ("donee/s") to make decisions and act on the donor's behalf if he or she loses mental capacity.
The Estrops are each other's donees. "We did our will and LPA at the same time because it would help see us through any roadblocks," says Mrs Estrop.
She and her husband have two children each from their previous marriages, who are now in their 20s and 30s, as well as two granddaughters.
The couple are among a record number of people who registered their LPAs last year - a phenomenon partly driven by the uncertainty and confrontation with mortality wrought by the pandemic.
A Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) spokesman says via e-mail: "The total number of registered LPAs last year is 34,125, which is the highest number registered in a year since registrations of LPAs came into effect in 2010."
The record figure is the latest development in a societal shift that has seen growing preparation for end-of-life care, traditionally viewed as "pantang" (Malay for taboo), lawyers tell The Sunday Times.
The number of persons who have registered their LPAs with the Office of the Public Guardian has been "increasing steadily year on year since 2014 - except for 2020, where there was a decrease from the previous year", the MSF spokesman says, adding that increased interest in LPAs is also due to outreach events and webinars.
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Figures from the Office of the Public Guardian - a division of the ministry - show that 24,488 LPAs were registered in 2019, before the pandemic struck in 2020, which saw 21,552 registered LPAs.
MSF attributes the lower figure in 2020 to safe distancing measures and the fact that seniors, generally the ones making LPAs, stayed home in the earlier part of the pandemic.
Donors must meet in person to certify their paperwork with an LPA certificate issuer, who can be practising lawyers, registered psychiatrists or medical practitioners accredited by the Public Guardian.
Covid-19 pushed many to register LPAs
The MSF spokesman says: "Covid-19 has underscored the fragility of life, especially when a loved one may suddenly be plunged into a precarious state of ill health and require someone to look into his or her well-being."
Mrs Estrop says remote working and staying in more gave her and her husband "more time" for in-depth discussions about their life plans.
The barrage of news about Covid-19 patients placed on ventilators or dying in hospital also "pushed us to get this done", she says.
But, despite their end-of-life planning, nothing prepared them for Mr Estrop's diagnosis of early Alzheimer's disease in August last year - six months after the couple did their wills and LPAs.
Alzheimer's is the most common form of dementia, a condition characterised by progressive cognitive decline.
Mr Estrop, a former commando, has a long-standing habit of cycling through the entire East Coast Park - which has a coastline stretching over 15km - thrice a week.
While fit as a fiddle, the sudden onset of uncharacteristic forgetfulness prompted him to go for a medical check.
The realisation that he could eventually lose his mental capacity struck him when doing the diagnostic tests. He was asked to copy the stick drawing of a house, which he found he could not.
He says this early stage of Alzheimer's is more "irritating" than anything else.
"When it hits you, it's like a blank. You could be going down to the shop to get something, then you think: 'Why am I here?'"
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In view of his diagnosis, he and his wife had a new LPA done last month, which they say has brought them additional relief.
While they are still donees for each other, their 37-year-old eldest child, Melissa, is the replacement donee for both of them.
Mrs Estrop says: "If I'm gone and his condition progresses, I know Melissa will look after him.
"Such matters (involving decisions for the care of a parent who is ill) can break a family. We're putting things in place so that there's harmony within the family."
Lawyer Imran Rahim says government and community efforts to raise awareness of LPAs in recent years have borne fruit.
More people now know there is "no automatic assumption of powers" to manage the affairs of a family member who is incapacitated, in the absence of an LPA, says Mr Imran, principal senior associate at Eldan Law LLP.
He is also a founding member of Lawyers@M³, a group that provides free legal services to the community.
While an LPA can be registered only if the person is mentally well enough to do so, the courts can appoint an individual, called a deputy, to make decisions on behalf of someone who lacks mental capacity.
Such deputyship applications can be "a long, painful and expensive process", says Mr Viveganandam Devaraj, managing director at Lions Chambers LLC.
For example, complicated legal proceedings can ensue if siblings do not agree on how to make healthcare or financial decisions for an incapacitated parent.
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Free applications for LPAs
Making an LPA can cost a few hundred dollars. It can be done for free in some pro bono cases.
The Office of the Public Guardian is waiving application fees for basic LPAs, known as Form 1, for Singapore citizens till March next year in a bid to encourage more Singaporeans to plan ahead and apply for an LPA.
Donors still have to pay a professional fee - which depends on the individual's requirements - for certificate issuers to certify their documents.
In contrast, a deputyship application can cost thousands of dollars.
While making end-of-life arrangements often concerns seniors, Ms Mariammah Shafii, 58, notes that an LPA is "not just for the elderly; it is regardless of age".
She is a principal specialist in industrial relations and analysis at NTUC (National Trades Union Congress).
She recently had her LPA done, along with her husband Saifuddin Hussien, a 60-year-old paralegal, and their 33-year-old son, a customer relations manager in a bank.
Their daughter, 30, declined to make an LPA at the same time.
Mr Saifuddin likens making an LPA to "getting insurance" - in preparing for any future incapacity he may have - and says it has given him peace of mind.
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