An interesting article on The Conversation Project, an initiative to have an adult conversation about the end of life and healthcare, after the silliness of the ‘death panel’ debate a few years back. Not easy to have in the current context, but one that is needed on both the individual and community levels. Quote:
The road to November will be filled with Conventions, Debates and Talk Shows. It will also be filled with heated rhetoric and polarizing soundbites. Fair enough, we all have a stake in this – and healthcare in all its forms – should be front-and-center. Including our choices around around end-of-life. The Conversation Project isn’t designed to promote any preference – and it doesn’t include Advanced Directives or other legal forms. What it does do is help all of us to engage an important and sensitive topic with those we care about before a medical crisis.
We are all mortal, yet as a society we have been painfully slow in recognizing how many of the people we love are not dying in the way they would choose: in comfort, among people who care about them, and engaged in what matters most for as long as possible,” said Goodman. “We believe this is the time to change the cultural norm from not talking about how we want to live at the end of our lives to talking about it. The Conversation Project aims to make it easier across cultures, workplace communities, and neighborhoods to share our wishes with our loved ones, before a health crisis occurs.
None of this will solve our disagreements, of course, but it does seem perfectly timed as a great place to start our own personal healthcare reform journey. This one’s real easy and it doesn’t even need a soundbite. It’s just a conversation.
Healthcare’s Latest Conversation – Forbes.
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