An advanced directive does not mean you are choosing not to get care. You are choosing what kind of care you want to get. If you want aggressive, high-tech care in an ICU, you can say that. If you want a feeding tube and a ventilator, you can say that (and our system certainly is geared up to give it to you). If you want more palliative care, you can say that. If you want hospice, you can have it (Medicare has covered it for more than 25 years). But you don't have to have hospice, and health reform isn't going to change that.
There are a lot of different approaches to advanced directives (Five Wishes, POLST, health-care proxies to name some) but their purpose is to help old, sick, or vulnerable people, who may not be able to speak for themselves anymore, to live out their days according to their wishes, beliefs, and values.
We've let Fox News know how offensive we found the remarks made by Laura Ingraham on the O’Reilly Factor. We encourage you to do the same. Let Fox News know that more than a third of Americans with advanced terminal illness choose a natural and dignified death at home with the palliative care and comfort care offered by hospice, and that more education is needed about end-of-life care. Obviously, end-of-life care and the choices that people are entitled to make about their care, are still poorly understood.
