Halloween might be over, but here's a spooky headline: It's Never Too Soon to Start End-of-Life Conversations.
In this article, Dr. Pelzman makes the case for patients to proactively manage their end-of-life care. This is a crucial issue that's near and dear to my heart (as evidenced by my book, The Journey's End). While I encourage you to read the full article, here are a few outstanding snippets:
First, as Dr. Pelzman says, "There are things that matter, and then there are things that really matter." End-of-life (EOL) conversations “really matter.” Unfortunately, modern medicine avoids them and instead focuses on things that are easier to measure, like symptoms and test results. Of course, few of us are comfortable discussing death, and fee-for-service medicine (along with the coding system) doesn't allow for meaningful EOL conversations.
Second, Dr. Pelzman muses that maybe someday "the issues of a dignified death, of maximizing the use of hospice and palliative care, of helping our loved ones get the peace they desire, will no longer raise such societal ire and create so much resistance." He adds that many families have been torn apart by these decisions during the last days of life, and that none of us want to see that happen." Amen!
Again, I encourage you to read the full article--and if you're curious for more, there's always my book.
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