After all, it is nearly impossible to know exactly the conditions of one’s final days and what the specific medical condition will be. Over the years of helping providers and families make end of life decisions for loved ones, I learned that the documents that allow for only check boxes (do everything, comfort measures only, do some things but not for too long) are limited in their ability to help in medical decision-making. What medical interventions I want is a small portion of it. Art by Craig KlugmanĪ narrative directive is a document that tells the story of what is important to a person-what makes their life worth living to them. Thus, for the 2019 National Health Care Decisions Day, I wanted to share these updates and suggestions. In the eight months since that blog post, I have received much feedback from readers and colleagues who offered suggestions on how to make my narrative directive even more useful. I talked about my effort to create a narrative advance directive, one that speaks to who I am as a person, what I value in life, and what an acceptable quality of life is for me. In August, I wrote about my attempts in revising and rewriting my end-of-life planning documents including my last will and testament, but mostly focusing on my dissatisfaction with current advance directive forms that require you to make broad choices and really do not speak to who the person is. April 16th is National Health Care Decisions Day, an annual effort to encourage people to think about their end of life care choices and to engage in conversation with others. Now that you have submitted your taxes, it’s time to consider your death.
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