Living Wills Helpful, but Unlikely to Solve Most End-of-Life Dilemmas
Feb. 21, 2001 -- Ten years ago, Christina Puchalski's fiance was dying. In the weeks and months prior to his death, her fiance, a physician, had told her that he was too terrified to face it. He had told her that, when the time came, he would swallow some pills.
"On the night he was dying," Puchalski, also a physician, recalls, "I stood by his bed and told him, 'You can get more morphine, and you don't have to suffer through this.' But he looked up at me and said, 'I want to be alert to the very end.'"
Puchalski's story is a powerful illustration of the unpredictable nature of a person's needs and wants as he or she approaches the ultimate unknown. It also illustrates the limitations of legally required advance directives, commonly known as living wills, in communicating to physicians and family members how people should be cared for in their last hours.
Two studies in the Feb. 12 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine demonstrate that living wills -- sometimes completed by patients long before they are dying -- frequently fail to capture the complex life-and-death decisions that accompany end-of-life care, according to author William D. Smucker, MD.
"I think the value of [a living will], in and of itself, is minimal," Smucker tells WebMD. "But I think the value of a discussion between a patient and a physician is maximal. If people believe having [a living will] is going to improve communication at a later date, or [prevent] the need for those discussions, they are mistaken."
Smucker is associate director at the Summa Health System Family Practice Residency Program in Akron, Ohio.
In the first study, 400 outpatients over age 65 and their self-designated surrogate decision makers were randomly assigned to experiments in which the family members tried to predict what the patients would want in life-and-death situations with or without a living will. In none of the scenarios -- in which patients and family members had options for life-sustaining treatments for a variety of medical conditions -- did a living will improve family members' ability to predict what their loved ones would want.
"On the night he was dying," Puchalski, also a physician, recalls, "I stood by his bed and told him, 'You can get more morphine, and you don't have to suffer through this.' But he looked up at me and said, 'I want to be alert to the very end.'"
Puchalski's story is a powerful illustration of the unpredictable nature of a person's needs and wants as he or she approaches the ultimate unknown. It also illustrates the limitations of legally required advance directives, commonly known as living wills, in communicating to physicians and family members how people should be cared for in their last hours.
Two studies in the Feb. 12 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine demonstrate that living wills -- sometimes completed by patients long before they are dying -- frequently fail to capture the complex life-and-death decisions that accompany end-of-life care, according to author William D. Smucker, MD.
"I think the value of [a living will], in and of itself, is minimal," Smucker tells WebMD. "But I think the value of a discussion between a patient and a physician is maximal. If people believe having [a living will] is going to improve communication at a later date, or [prevent] the need for those discussions, they are mistaken."
Smucker is associate director at the Summa Health System Family Practice Residency Program in Akron, Ohio.
In the first study, 400 outpatients over age 65 and their self-designated surrogate decision makers were randomly assigned to experiments in which the family members tried to predict what the patients would want in life-and-death situations with or without a living will. In none of the scenarios -- in which patients and family members had options for life-sustaining treatments for a variety of medical conditions -- did a living will improve family members' ability to predict what their loved ones would want.
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