We Need a New Paradigm for Final Wishes

Top experts question the value of advance care planning and call for change

Research finds that decades of effort to ensure people have their end-of-life wishes fulfilled has fallen far short of its stated objectives.zimmytws/Shutterstock

For decades, Americans have been urged to fill out documents specifying their end-of-life wishes before becoming terminally ill—living wills, do-not-resuscitate orders, and other written materials expressing treatment preferences.

Now, a group of prominent experts is saying those efforts should stop because they haven’t improved end-of-life care.