Imagine something terrible happened to you (say a car accident, or drowning), and you suffered a devastating anoxic brain injury. You become unable to communicate, could not have meaningful interactions with others, and had no capacity to feel pain or pleasure. After remaining in this condition for several months, your physicians diagnose you as being in a persistent vegetative state, with no chance of recovery. Even so, with supportive medical care, you could live for 20-30 years in this condition. Under this circumstance, what would you want for yourself? Would you want all medical treatment stopped? Would you prefer that all treatments be continued indefinitely? Or, would you prefer some intermediate?
Many people have a rough idea of some of the treatments they would want and would not want, but those ideas are never communicated with the people who matter the most: family, friends, and primary care physician. This lack of communication can result from fear of the topic, lack of knowledge about the issues, lack of time, or some other issue. Also, although most people know something about living wills, there is much misunderstanding about just what advance directives are and how they work.
In an effort to better educate the community about options available for end of life care, our Family Practice Interest Group has been working with the Humanities Department her at the Hershey Medical Center/Penn State College of Medicine to revive the Advance Directive project. This project serves to promote public understanding of the ethical, personal, and social aspects regarding advance directives, and to promote personal reflection about values and concerns covered in advance directives. It is our hope that this presentation will encourage people to discuss their desires with their family, friends, and/or physicians.
Through this project, medical students and other members of the Medical Center community provide a short 45 minutes seminar to interested local groups (churches, organizations, other such groups). The presenters are trained to give the presentation as well as answer basic questions regarding end of life care planning. Please keep an eye out for new dates that you can participate in! Contact our Advanced Directives chairs for more information: Hessam Afshari, Melissa Coleman, or Lindsay Lipinski for more information.
