The Lanzarote Health Area has registered two hundred new applications for advance will declarations (AWD) in the first months of the year and puts the figure at 1,800 since 2019. Lanzarote is the Canary Island with the highest rate of living wills since 2019.
Over this time, there has been a gradual increase in the number of people who consider it important to express their wishes in advance and thus ensure that their preferences for the end of life are respected.
Most of the AWDs that have been registered in Lanzarote between the months of January and April 2024 were submitted by women, specifically, 68%, while men who have signed their living will account for 32% of the total.
These data come from the "Study of the Registry of Advance Will Declarations and user profile in the Lanzarote Health Area" currently carried out by those responsible for the Registry and the Research Unit of the Management.
According to this research, the average age of people who have registered their living will in the first months of the year is 59 years old, with the youngest person being nineteen years old and the oldest being 96.
With respect to the nationality of the applicants, 69% are Spanish and 40% are foreigners, among them German citizens stand out from the rest of the nationalities with almost twelve percent of the AWDs registered.
Wishes and instructions for the end of life
Regarding the main reasons that citizens give for making their living will, 40.3% say they do so to exercise their autonomy at the end of their life, 28.8% do so thinking about not becoming a burden for their family environment and 22% what they intend is to avoid suffering.
It should be noted that of the total AWDs registered throughout this year, the vast majority, 82.2%, accept euthanasia in their instructions for the end of life. Regarding the preference for the place to die, 37.2% of them choose their home, while 27.2% would prefer to do so in a health center.
The Advance Will document contains the instructions that healthcare personnel must follow when the patient can no longer express their consent and is considered a guide that helps healthcare professionals in making difficult decisions, close to the end of life.
Dissemination of AWDs among citizens
The observational study that is currently being carried out and that will last until the end of the year, aims to determine the sociodemographic profile and collects variables such as age, gender, country of birth, level of education, religious preferences or the motivation of people who make an AWD document on the island and assess the degree of satisfaction of the same.
Depending on the results of the study, strategies are planned to address the dissemination and promotion of this service both at the level of citizens and health professionals in order to improve accessibility to this health right.
The nurse responsible for the Registry of Advance Will Declarations carries out an informative work throughout the year and organizes talks and workshops in institutes, the Nursing school, associations, residences for the elderly, headquarters of NGOs and among health professionals from health centers and the different services of the Doctor José Molina Orosa University Hospital.
