Discussions: A Guide to Navigating Healthcare Choices

By Patsy Barnes

The title of this booklet is Discussions because there is a real need to have some
of these discussions when you are a complex or chronically ill patient. These need
to take place between the patient and physician, the patient and family, and the
patient and caregivers. It is not enough to say that those close to you understand
what you would want in certain situations. It is amazing, although the subjects are
diffi cult, that people handicap and burden others to make decisions about health
care while never talking about these diffi cult topics. Some people feel that if they
are discussed, then they will occur, much as people ignore talking about death, not
wishing to tempt it into occurring. Presented in this pamphlet are very diffi cult but
very important subjects that should be discussed more than once, and many should
be ongoing discussions with caregivers and physicians. Many patients feel that if
these discussions are so important, the doctor should bring them up and begin the
talk. However, physicians are not trained to begin these discussions any more than
patients are trained to do so, and the lack of communication on so vital a subject as
types of treatment choices or feeding tubes can become critical decisions for others
to make in chronically ill patients.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jun 18, 2013
• ISBN: 9781483651088