COVID-19 Deaths Highlight Need for People to Make End-of-Life Wishes Known
Excerpt from The Miami Herald:
April 16, the date of the projected peak of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States, is also National Healthcare Decisions Day. It’s when Americans are encouraged to complete advance
directives that name their decision maker and specify their medical-treatment preferences should they ever lose their decision-making capacity.
This year, desperate family members, with tears streaming down their faces, their noses pressed against hospital doors, barred from entry to see or talk to their loved ones are the poignant poster children for this particular day, when families will regret never asking loved ones about their end-of-life wishes and COVID-19 patients themselves, perhaps unable to speak, will regret their own procrastination.
National Healthcare Decisions Day is supposed to prevent such days of regret.