Dr. Sarah Todd

There is a quiet assumption that runs through almost every conversation about end-of-life planning. The assumption that this is something to think about later. When you're older. When you're sick. When you're closer to the end. After twenty years in the emergency department, I can tell you that assumption costs families dearly. The patients I've seen who needed advance care planning weren't all elderly. Many of them were in their twenties, thirties, and forties. None of them expected to be...

If you read my previous blog post, you already know that "my family knows what I want" isn't a plan. A real plan starts with a health care proxy document — and in Massachusetts, this is the single most important end-of-life document you can have in place. The form itself is the easy part. But choosing the right person to name on it is where most people get stuck. What a health care proxy actually does A health care proxy is a legal document, governed by Massachusetts General Laws Chapter...

It's one of the most common things I hear when I bring up end-of-life planning with patients and their families. A reassuring wave of the hand. A small smile. "Oh, my family knows what I want." I wish that were enough. After twenty years in the emergency department — and after living through this myself — I can tell you that it almost never is. What actually happens in the moment Here's the scene I've witnessed more times than I can count. A patient arrives in crisis — a stroke, a cardiac...