“They made the end of his life horrible and painful and humiliating,” Elaine Greenberg said. “What’s the sense of having a living will if it’s not honored?”
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“The rest is up to you,” he finally said, ending the conversation for good. He didn’t have any more guidance, and certainly no more patience to talk about it. I was surprised. To me, it felt slightly irresponsible to leave all these decisions to other people.
Managing dying and death is difficult enough. But if you do nothing, you’ll be a pawn in a profit-driven medical system.
Do you know what can go wrong without advance directives and an end-of-life plan? You have NO IDEA.
When it comes to your healthcare surrogate, do NOT name co-advocates!
ZDoggMD (Zubin Damania, MD) explains in his engrossing style what it really means to decide that you want to be kept alive by doing everything possible. It may be time to remodel those advance directives.
One problem with advance directives is that often they are not honored. It is critical that you have a good advocate who demands that you get only the care you want and do not get what is not wanted, not only at end of life but at any time you encounter a medical institution. You will need to choose someone who meets the legal requirements to act as a health care or medical agent, which some states call a proxy, surrogate, or representative. I call this person your “advocate.” State requirements differ greatly, so be sure to use your state’s forms for naming a health care or medical agent, not generic documents like the “5 wishes.”
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