Dr. Barak Gaster is a Seattle internist who spent three years working with specialists in geriatrics, neurology, palliative care and psychiatry to create a dementia-specific advance directive. The document maps out the stages of dementia: mild, moderate and severe; it asks patients to specify which medical interventions they would want...
Former first lady Barbara Bush had been in declining health for several years. Just days before her death at age 92, we read that she was seeking “comfort care” for her terminal conditions of congestive heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Comfort care translates to preventing or relieving suffering, providing...
The following story from The New England Journal of Medicine illustrates the importance of not just creating an Advance Healthcare Directive and a Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) order, but making sure your family and healthcare providers are advised of and committed to your decisions. An unconscious man with a DNR tattoo...
