My long connection with end-of-life care, its costs and consequences, took on a whole new dimension for me with a recent personal experience. Several...
In this post, I'd like to explore the necessity, challenges and goals of having end-of-life conversations once the diagnosis of a life-limiting condition is confirmed.
You have introduced the idea of having a family conversation, or a series of conversations, about end-of-life wishes and goals. Mom and Dad are on board, the adult children want to know more, and everyone is ready to take the next steps to ensure wishes are followed. Now what?
An end-of-life discussion is not a conversation likely to arise spontaneously on its own. Whether you are an aging parent or a concerned adult child, you must make the first move. Seize any opportunity to begin the conversation.
Sadly, informed consent and shared decision-making, the twin pillars of patient-centered health care, aren't the rock-solid structures we would hope for. That's the lesson of a new study in the Journal of Intensive Care Medicine.
It was my father, not I, who initiated the end-of-life "conversation" that would extend over more than two years. It began when he asked me to come over so we could review some "materials" he'd put together.
My father does not want to die and I understand that. That said, I have watched as over the past three years the quality of his life has been steadily reduce to something approaching zero.
There's something about assisted dying that still makes a lot of people squirm. With Dr. Kevorkian's death, I think it's time for us to take that bogeyman out of the closet.
Historically, end-of-life choice has suffered at the hands of politicians. The people's simple yearning for freedom and control at the end of life has been no match for the heavy hand of politicians.
As frustrating as our broken political system is, when it comes to communicating complex ideas, just having the conversation is itself a victory.
The federal government once again has decided not to help seniors with advance care planning. On Wednesday, the Obama administration announced it is d...
New Medicare regulations to take effect January 1 will include a provision physicians, social workers and families pushed for. The New York Times rep...
After the House passed the Democrat's health care bill, Republicans vowed to repeal the soon-to-be-law. my answer to them is, have at it. They couldn't be more wrong about what makes this country great.
The Elder Justice Act in the health reform bills would finally provide the increased federal resources and leadership to prevent, detect, treat, understand, intervene in and, where appropriate, prosecute elder abuse.
As a doctor specializing in palliative care and hospice, I'm disheartened to see how end-of-life counseling was twisted into something sinister and untrue, then ultimately dropped because it was deemed too divisive.
Death is essentially a taboo topic in public debates, and serious discussion about terminal illness and death has been almost completely lacking in the recent health care debates.
Some leaders prefer to confine us in childhood, so we need never acknowledge, grieve over or plan for our own deaths. A childish approach to end-of-life issues permeated the August recess.
So much has been said by those who claim to understand what "end of life care" means, and all of it has little if any root in truth. So, I will give you my personal experience with "end of life counseling."
Living wills and health care proxies are very critical documents and every independent citizen, young and old, should have these documents within his or her estate plan.
Reviewing what the Nazis actually did -- and why -- shows that recent inapt "Nazi" comparisons reveal more about the attackers than the president's or Congress's current proposals.
For loved ones, end of life planning makes one of the most difficult times that much easier to deal with. Instead of helping families plan for this, we are getting fear mongering and stupidity.
I received a mass email that exhorted the recipients to pray because of the disaster to befall on us if health care reform is passed. I went through every charge and answered it.
As I've been noting, conservatives and Republican leaders have been running wild with the claim that the House Dems' health care reform bill, by offer...
