As a Health Care Executive in the Hospital and Nursing Home arena, one of the most troubling things that I had to deal with was the “unpreparedness” of loss of life, terminal illness, fatal accident, estate planning, advance directives and aging itself. A vast majority of these dealings were a result of “unwillingness” to discuss these topics sometimes by the individual themselves and or other family members. We all think we will have time or that the time is not right to have these discussions. Sometimes there are family members who are unwilling and or maybe the correct terminology I like to use is “selfish”.  More

Because of advances in medicine, each of us, as well as our families and friends, may face many decisions about the dying process. As hard as it might be to face the idea of your own death, you might take time to consider how your individual values relate to your idea of a good death. By deciding what end-of-life care best suits your needs when you are healthy, you can help those close to you make the right choices when the time comes. This not only respects your values, but also allows those closest to you the comfort of feeling as though they can be helpful. More