Shoalhaven doctors are asking you to speak up about the treatment you want at the end of your life.
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Practice manager at Junction Street Family Medical Practice Gail Lloyd said the community did not like to talk about death.
"We're hoping by being a bit more public and open about it people will start to think about it," she said.
"Sometimes people who are facing the end of their life often want to talk about it, but they don't raise it because they don't want to upset people."
Ms Lloyd said some GPs don't even want to bring up end-of-life care with their patients.
"We're finding that in general practices their doctors aren't wanting to talk about it, aren't wanting to raise it," she said.
She believes there's a lot of misinformation about end of life care.
"There's a misunderstanding that an advanced care directive is instructing people to turn machines off or to stop trying and it's not the case," she said.
"It's a case of saying this is what I can stand having happened to me, this is what I can't stand, and you can be very specific.
"My mum had a stroke nine years ago and she lost her ability to speak so when it came to the end of her life we had to make decisions based on things she'd said to me eight or nine years ago.
"I'm sure we made the right decision but it would've been easier if it was written down on a piece of paper."
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There have been incidents in nursing homes in which aged care staff have acted against the wishes of families and residents.
"Sometimes aged care facilities are ringing ambulances for people and send them to the hospital when it's not what they or their family members want," Ms Lloyd said.
"They may just want to be kept comfortable and allowed to die in their home."
With funding from the local primary health network, Junction Street Family Practice is holding a free community forum for all residents on living with dying.
The forum is being held from 9 am on August 6 at the Nowra School of Arts. For more information call 4423 5644.