When Living Longer Conflicts With Dying Well
Dying is inevitable. But medical advancements have made it possible to cheat death in many instances that would have been quickly fatal not so long ago. So it\u2019s become easier to avoid thinking about death and default toward saying \u201cyes\u201d to whatever medical intervention will extend our lives. But when does living longer conflict with dying well? In this podcast episode we\u2019re assessing the common assumption that we can extend life at all costs and still have a \u201cgood death\u201d when the time comes. A hospital physician explains the complicated financial and emotional incentives that lead doctors and patients do too many tests, prescriptions and procedures that ultimately do more harm than good. An ICU doctor describes the risks of relying on a \u201cliving will\u201d to guarantee a \u201cgood death\u201d and what to do instead. If you\u2019ve spent a life saying \u201cyes,\u201d by default, to everything medicine has to offer, it\u2019s traumatic \u2013 and not at all straightforward \u2013 to know when to start saying \u201cno.\u201d We also hear how a man with terminal cancer navigated end-of-life decisions and what it took for his caregivers to deliver on his wishes for a good death in hospice. \n\n\nPodcast Guests:\nDavid Oliver (died 2015), retired gerontology professor, University of Missouri, co-creator of \u201cExit Strategy\u201d video series\n\nDebra Parker Oliver, professor of hospice and palliative care research, Washington University St. Louis, co-creator of \u201cExit Strategy\u201d video series, author of \u201cLegacies from the Living Room: A Love-Grief Equation.\u201d\n\nChristopher Moriates, MD, Assistant Dean for Health Care Value in the Department of Medical Education, Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin\n\nSamuel Morris Brown, MD, ICU physician and vice president for research at Intermountain Health; professor of medicine, University of Utah; author of \u201cThrough the Valley of Shadows: Living Wills, Intensive Care, and Making Medicine Human\u201d\n\n**This episode is part of Season 4 on Top of Mind: Assessing Assumptions. Could the systems we've built to keep our communities safe and \u200athriving work better if we weren't so set in our ways?