Season 3, Ep. 23: How do you negotiate end of life decisions?

And I'd love to bring your wisdom to my listeners because this is a very unique topic, as I mentioned.

And everyone has to figure out what's going to happen at the end of life because

guess what? None of us get to escape it, right? We're

all going to go to the same destination.

And I know that in our society, typically people have a difficult time talking about it.

Maybe they don't even want to think about it.

So they figure if I don't talk about it, I don't need to think about it.

And so, you know, that in and of itself, it is a negotiation.

It's a really tough one.

So why don't we just start the conversation about How do we even begin a negotiation about that topic when many of us are uncomfortable even broaching the subject?

Yeah, it's a great question, Alice.

And I'm going to start with a niche in this area that I think is really important.

chronic illness is prevalent, right? As our population is aging, you know, we have a society that likes things like fatty foods and sugary diets.

And so unfortunately, we know that most healthcare dollars are spent in the last year of life.

We know that for sure.

And so that can look like repeated admissions.

It can look like pain.

It can look like lethargy and really discomfort, right? People not feeling like I'm living a high quality of life.

But what we also see is that a lot of times people have difficulty broaching that with their families, saying things like, I'm at peace with this being the end, right? I'd like to stop aggressive treatments.

And it's a really difficult conversation for people to have with spouses, with their children, and sometimes even with their physician, right? Because once you say it, it's real.

Once you begin talking about that, it's real.

And so I think one of the things that people who are feeling like the quality of my life just isn't there, right? This is just another thought of another trip to an ER is depressing to me.

The thought of waking up one more day in pain is depressing to me.

Negotiations, a safe place to start there is really in the provider's office, talking to your physician, right? So there's some privacy protections that are in place there if we're worried about other family members.

But there's also the ability to leverage their expertise to help bring your family along.