Discussions by Elders and Adult Children about End-of-Life Preparation and Treatment

America has a death-denying culture, and people who cannot face death are not likely to be able to discuss EOLPP.

The need for education and communication is evident. Only 18% of Americans have living wills. People sometimes trust, even prefer, others to make end-of-life decisions for them. Although 95% of elders in one study said they “trusted” someone — more often children than spouses — to make decisions for them, fewer than half actually had spoken with the person they expected to make the decision. However, research suggests that discussing EOLPP lightens a family’s decision-making burden.

This report from the Centre of Disease Control (CDC) focused on informal family communication about end-of-life preparation and preferences, about which little is known.

http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2008/jan/07_0141.htm?s_cid=pcd51a08_x

Source: Docuticker