[Sundaycommunity] Fwd: Commonly held myths about end-of-life issues

Tue Sep 26 06:14:20 PDT 2023

FYI. Catherine
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Harvard Medical School <healthbeat at mail.health.harvard.edu>
Date: Tue, Sep 26, 2023 at 7:31 AM
Subject: Commonly held myths about end-of-life issues
To: Catherine <catherine.walther at gmail.com>

Some people don't have a health care power of attorney or living will
because they don't realize how important these documents are.
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Commonly held myths about end-of-life issues

Some people don’t have a health care power of attorney or living will
because they don’t realize how important these documents are. Others worry
that such documents mean they are signing their lives away. Not so.
Get your copy of *Advance Care Planning*

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Living
wills and health care proxies — documents known as advance care directives
— give you a voice in decisions about your medical care at the end of life.
Without these documents, choices may be left up to a doctor or a judge —
someone who does not know your values, beliefs, or preferences. This
Special Health Report,* Advance Care Planning: A guide to advance
directives, living wills, and other strategies for communicating health
care preferences,* will help you plan ahead and create legal documents to
guide decision makers at this important time.

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These powerful documents make sure that you get the treatment you would
want for yourself if you couldn’t communicate your wishes. Here are a few
myths that shouldn’t get in the way of creating a health care power of
attorney or living will:

*Myth:* More care is always better.

*Truth:* Not necessarily. Sometimes more care prolongs the dying process
without respect for quality of life or comfort. It’s important to know what
interventions are truly important. It’s often impossible to know that in
advance. That’s where the advice of a healthcare team is invaluable.

*Myth:* Refusing life support invalidates your life insurance, because you
are committing suicide.

*Truth:* Refusing life support does not mean that you are committing
suicide. Instead, the underlying medical problem is considered to be the
cause of death.

*Myth:* If medical treatment is started, it cannot be stopped.

*Truth:* Not starting a medical treatment and stopping a treatment are the
same in the eyes of the law. So you or your health care agent can approve a
treatment for a trial period that you think may be helpful without fear
that you can’t change your mind later. However, be aware that stopping
treatment can be more emotionally difficult than not starting it in the
first place.

*Myth:* If you refuse life-extending treatments, you’re refusing all
treatments.

*Truth:* No matter what treatments you refuse, you should still expect to
receive any other care you need or want — especially the pain and symptom
management sometimes called intensive comfort care.

*Myth:* Stopping or refusing artificial nutrition and hydration causes pain
for someone who is dying.

*Truth:* Unlike keeping food or water from a healthy person, for someone
who is dying, declining artificial nutrition or intravenous hydration does
not cause pain.

For more on setting goals for end-of-life care and avoiding common
pitfalls, buy *Advance Care Planning*
<https://www.ne16.com/t/5875080/183503194/873199/2/1000401/?f5d63f87=Zm9jdXNvbi1oZWFsdGh5LWxpdmluZy01&x=41d5b140>,
a Special Health Report from Harvard Medical School.
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Featured in this issue
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Advance Care Planning Featured content:
• 7 key measures to ensure that your wishes will be honored
• What to consider before including a DNR
• 5 common (and dangerous) myths about end-of-life issues
• The role of POLST (Physician orders for life-sustaining treatment
• 10 tips for being a more effective health care agent
•  ... and more!
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