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Planning for End of Life

This chapter discusses the planning for end-of-life care. Results of a 2017 survey show that older adults are likelier than younger people to have documented their end-of-life wishes. Yet few adults with or without written documents have discussed end-of-life care with their doctors. Age, education, and discussions about death were predictors of having such a plan. Those with a college education or higher were most likely to have a written document, compared to those with some college, high school, or less education. Also, talking about death while growing up correlated with having written documents about wishes for medical care. Care settings encouraging or mandating doctors to use an advanced directive toolkit, such as the one created by the National Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment Paradigm, can improve the communication gap with providers and help seriously ill patients better express their wishes for end-of-life care.