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When faced with death, patients do change their minds
Do advance directives by healthy people actually deliver better end-of-life care? This well-intentioned effort has not worked as promised.
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The well-intentioned effort of advance care planning has not worked as promised, says the writer.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Daniela J. Lamas
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(NYTIMES) - My patient had done everything possible to avoid being intubated. After a traumatic hospitalisation when she was young, she had consistently told her loved ones that she would never again agree to a breathing tube. She had even filled out an advance directive years ago to formalise that decision.
But when she arrived in the emergency department one night this past spring with severe pneumonia, struggling to breathe, the doctors called her husband with a question. Should they intubate? If they didn't, she would likely die.
