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Abstract
Background It is often difficult to think about life, serious illnesses and especially about dying. It always seems too early until it is too late. for this reason, facilitated advance care planning (ACP) for nursing home and disability home residents is covered by German sickness funds. Often, however, the time to start these discussions is already late.
Methods For this reason, I have written and illustrated the story of the old man and the rabbit. They are talking about how they want to be treated when they can no longer express themselves. Thus, they both become ACP-facilitators for the other. On a joint walk, individual sections of the conversation process take place at different locations.
Results The old man and the rabbit have very different attitudes towards life, serious illness and dying. This also results in widely differing ideas about what should still be done medically when they can no longer express themselves. The old man is already at a point where life should no longer be prolonged. The rabbit, on the other hand, still has many plans and would like to live on as long as possible, even if not at any price. This opens up a wide field for the reader to find his own point of view on these questions. These can then be written down in the second half of the book and discussed with their next of kin/relatives. The questions are assigned to the individual conversation places of the walk, so that one can look up again and again which considerations the old man and the rabbit had to it.
Book cover of ‘The old man and the rabbit - an honest and encouraging conversation about living and dying’
Conclusion This low-threshold approach is intended to promote early engagement in ACP.