[xherberta]

Here are a couple of related resources:

An eye-opening conversation with a palliative care physician: http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2014/11/becky_liddicoat.htm...

"Five Wishes," a tool to guide you through conversations with loved ones about end-of-life care (not to be taken as a replacement for a living will, as I don't think it will hold up legally in all states) https://agingwithdignity.org/five-wishes/

And if you really want to get motivated to have these conversations with your loved ones, check out Otis Brawley's book "How We Do Harm," which has a chapter that is a HORROR story of what happens when a patient's family asks that "everything" be done to keep him alive. The doctors felt that they were torturing the patient, who had no reasonable prospect for recovery. Yet the family insisted that "everything" be done, including extremely painful procedures and withholding pain medication because the patient's respiration was too fragile.

Don't be this family! Don't be this patient!