Footnote to a Debate on End-of-Life Care

Last night I reported on a debate on end-of-life care at the Press Club to be aired later on PBS. A trial attorney who represented former Governor Jeb Bush in the Terry Schiavo legislation ranted continually about nameless faceless bureaucrats in Washington making decisions. Others, a bioethicist and a palliative care physician, noted rationing occurs now, but is not as rational as it ought to be, and is inevitible. They wanted ethicists, theologians and doctors to develop guidelines. What is missing, in my opinion, is the need to emphasize that families and patients can choose hospice care. That requires conversations that people tend to avoid. Sarah Palin's turning the idea of requiring such conversations into "death squads" reveals that the solution cannot be via legislation. Perhaps through a private citizen campaign and public service announcements? Having personally used hospice at home when my husband died, but not when my mother died in a hospital, I strongly believe the hospice experience is more comforting to the patient.