This is a practical guide for foreign residents planning for serious illness, aging and death in Oaxaca de Juárez. Gordon Ian Hawley wrote it after two Oaxaca Lending Library Terrace Talks on end-of-life care in 2023, and it grew through the local Muertos Café gatherings that followed. It builds on and updates parts of K.T. Maclay’s Beginner’s Guide to Death, Dying, and Incapacitation in Oaxaca. It also adds local information that general guides to dying in Mexico don’t cover.
 
The 2026 edition covers:
What to set up before an emergency, and who to call first (usually not 911)
How the 2026 public health reforms and the new Servicio Universal de Salud affect foreign residents, including current IMSS premiums
Choosing private doctors and hospitals in Oaxaca, with typical consultation fees
Residential care, home nursing, palliative care and dementia care in and around the city, with 2026 costs
Getting pain medication in Mexico, and why it’s hard
Getting your paperwork in order: prepaid funeral services, durable powers of attorney, apostilles and Mexican wills
Building a medical buddy team, with checklists for your emergency binder
What happens after a death: death certificates, autopsies, the funeral home process, and reporting to US and Canadian consular authorities
Mexican law on assisted dying, with Canada’s MAID framework for comparison
Forms you can fill in:
naming the people who make medical decisions for you
a healthcare directive
a bilingual English/Spanish form naming who handles your remains and death certificate
An emergency numbers page and a list of further resources
 
Every purchase supports the Oaxaca Lending Library, a bilingual community library and cultural center that has served Oaxaca since 1966.
 
Format: PDF, 44 pages, in English. You can download it right after you buy.
 
Digital downloads are non-refundable.

© 2026 Gordon Ian Hawley. All rights reserved. This booklet is licensed for the buyer’s personal use only. Please don’t copy, forward, post, or share any part of it without the author’s permission. Each copy sold supports the Oaxaca Lending Library, so if someone you know would find it useful, send them here!