Advance Care Planning / End of Life

While for some of us, the thought of growing older without having a spouse or adult children might be anxiety-provoking, for others, that’s just a normal way of life and may even be a preferable way of aging. Certainly, in this generation of older adults, who have had access to…

We recently reported that life expectancy appears to be biologically fixed even if recent advances suggest that many live longer. However, it is important to realize that conditions over the last year and a half have somewhat changed the situation. Due to the coronavirus pandemic’s impact, life expectancy in the United…

In the early months of the pandemic, especially when it became clear that older adults were at high risk of serious illness or even death from COVID, there was the hope that advance care planning (documenting your wishes regarding end-of-life care and appointing a health care proxy to speak on…

If there’s one silver lining that may emerge from the COVID pandemic, it may be our societal recognition that death is very much a part of life, and often requires the same sort of thoughtful planning we inevitably give to other life milestones. If you’re fortunate and considerate of your…

If you’re like the majority of people, it’s a conversation you’ve likely avoided. Most of us try to steer clear of contemplating what the future may entail, much less plan ahead and take specific actions in response to what we can anticipate. It’s not a particularly uplifting conversation to consider…

If there’s any silver lining to the coronavirus pandemic, it just may be that each of us has had to confront the reality of death in a way we’ve never had to previously. While so many during COVID have had to face the harsh reality of a hospital death without…