FT News Feed

Share:

John Harper discusses challenging end-of-life situations with Father Tad, looking first at the case of "ST" in England which involved a number of failures on the part of the health care system to attend to the needs of the ill patient and her family.  ST was dependent on a ventilator to breathe, a feeding tube, and on dialysis due to a progressive mitochondrial disease she was battling. Father Tad explains the importance of appointing a health care proxy to make decisions when you become unable to do so yourself, and encourages listeners to learn about how to make end of life decisions in a way that is coherent and informed. He recommends the End of Life Guide of the NCBC as a useful resource. Responding to a call-in question, they also discuss POLST forms and their problematic nature.

The interview begins at 24:46 and can be found here.