A group of health care and civic leaders has launched a new effort aimed at ensuring that Massachusetts residents who are seriously ill are able to choose the kind of care they want at the end of life.
At its first meeting on May 12, 2016, at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, members of the Massachusetts Coalition for Serious Illness Care presented results of a recent state survey showing that even though 85% of residents think doctors should talk with patients about their end-of-life care goals, only 25% of seriously ill people actually have those conversations.
“That leads to suffering,” said Atul Gawande, professor at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, executive director of Ariadne Labs, and cochair of the coalition, in an interview on WBUR’s CommonHealth. “But…when people articulate those goals and wishes, and the treatment matches it, then people are able to have better quality of life.”
The coalition is funded by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts and the RxFoundation.
Listen to the CommonHealth story: Health Care And Civic Leaders Launch Serious Illness Care Coalition
Read a Boston Globe article: When you die, will your wishes be known?