Doctor: Give thanks and talk about end-of-life wishes
Various end-of-life coalitions, including one here in
"We don't really like to have that conversation," said Dr.
Forms you can download from the state and various agencies provide a straightforward way to make your preferences known: To what lengths should health providers go to keep you alive? Who do you want to make your decisions if you're not able? Where, if you have a choice, do you want to die -- in a hospital, or at home?
But talking about those preferences to family members is at least as important as having the form, which too often ends up in a "lockbox or attorney's office" and takes family members by surprise when it's pulled out in a time of crisis, Wooten said.
Being diagnosed with a chronic or terminal illness makes the conversation more urgent, he said, but don't wait until that happens: "Far too many people don't talk about these issues."
Among issues he suggests discussing are what your wishes for care would be when life expectancy is short -- would you want aggressive treatments, like chemotherapy, or just measures to keep you comfortable? Would you want to spend your final weeks and months at doctors' appointments or in treatment, or would you prefer to spend them at home with family? What is the line -- at what point would your quality of life be so diminished that you wouldn't want to use medical treatments to prolong it? What do you want your death to look like?
These aren't typically
Wooten said people with family members willing to step in as caregivers are lucky when it's time to make a plan for palliative, or comfort, care.
"There's all kinds of coverage for chemotherapy, tests and hospitalization, but when you're dying and you don't have somebody to care for you, that's expensive," Wooten said.
For those who can't stay alone in their homes, "that's a real problem, trying to figure out where people are going to go if they have a few months or a few weeks to live."
He's hoping
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