Hospice Director: Not enough Americans prepared for end-of-life care

BRIDGEPORT, W.Va. — When you reach the end of your life, will your loved ones know what you want if you can’t tell them yourself?

That’s the question now posed by the United Hospital Center and People’s Hospice as they prepare to screen “Being Mortal,” a PBS Frontline documentary about end-of-life preferences and care.

“Nobody who is getting ready to go plan their next day at work or plan their next golf outing or plan their next anything wants to stop for a minute and say, ‘Well, what if you die on the 18th hole?'” Dr. Paul Davis, a Family Physician at UHC and Medical Director of People’s Hospice, said.

It’s estimated that 90 percent of Americans know they should be having conversations with loved ones and physicians about end-of-life care, but only 30 percent actually do.

“For a large, large number of patients and their families, it comes as a big surprise and a big shock,” Dr. Davis said. “At the end of a life, all of a sudden, they are faced with decisions about medical care.”

“What we’re hoping is that by stirring up the thought process, people will get serious about this.”

Around 70 percent of Americans say they’d rather die at home then in a hospital, but nearly 70 percent pass away in a hospital instead. Dr. Davis believes when people realize how easy it actually is to make official, legal preparations, more Americans will seize the opportunity to do so.

“I don’t have to go to the hospital and spend the last two weeks of my life in the ICU struggling to survive,” he said. “I can just be kept comfortable. That’s very helpful for them and hospice organizations in general.”

“Being Mortal” follows three families as they make these difficult healthcare decisions.

Dr. Davis said these are decisions that shouldn’t be limited to the elderly or the terminally ill. Everyone–no matter how young–should at least begin to talk about their preferences with family members.

“We are born with a thought that we are immortal,” he said. “It’s time and experience and occasional sprained ankles–being tackled in football. Things happen in life that suddenly make you realize that you’re mortal. Our hope is that we can engage people in conversation before they get to the point where they suddenly wish they had made some decisions.”

Once the difficult conversations have been completed, Dr. Davis said the process of actually converting that conversation into a legal agreement in the form of an advanced directive for physicians to follow is not particularly difficult. All it takes, he said, is a trip to a hospital, your physician’s office, or a social worker’s office.

“You write down, and actually sign, ‘This is what I want,'” he said. “If I’m no longer able to tell you what I want, this is what I want.”

The film will be screened on two separate evenings at no charge and will include dinner.

The first screening will be in the library of St. Joseph’s Hospital in Buckhannon at 5:30 pm on Tuesady, October 4. You can call 304-473-2057 to reserve a seat.

The second screening is at United Hospital Center in Bridgeport on Thursday, October 6 at 5:30 pm in Classrooms 1 and 2. You can call 681-342-3261 to reserve a seat.

PBS awarded the grant to WVU Medicine, permitting UHC and St. Joseph’s Hospital to screen the films as part of a nationwide awareness campaign.





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