Life-Sustaining Treatment: The Big Picture

This month, we are working on advance care planning. Dust off that paperwork and review, update, share, and discuss.

Advance directives begin with naming health care agents. From there, they often open up to a second part that includes choice regarding life-sustaining treatments. Some are specific and give you space to declare wishes in regards to CPR, mechanical ventilation, etc. Some ask you to answer if you would want life-sustaining treatments if you were not able to speak, not able to breathe on your own, etc. If you are joining in the discussion, or if you are reading this right now, there is a good chance that you are not having to make critical health care decisions in this moment, and therefore these decisions live in Hypothetical Land. It can be very easy to get lost in the weeds when everything is more or less fine. And so this…