Community Corner
Health Care Directives: Beyond the Document to the Conversation
Health Care Directives have been in existence for 25 years as documents. This talk explores the history of health care directives and critiques them as documents. It suggests that the real value of a health care directive is revealed when it serves to facilitate a conversation between a person and significant others about the inevitability and meaning of one’s death.
A portion of the talk will focus on “Honoring Choices Minnesota,” a partnership between several health care systems and community groups, the goal of which is to educate the public on the importance of having a conversation about health care preference with significant others. It explores the history, successes, and challenges of the project.
This event is part of the Mini Bioethics Academy, sponsored by the University of
Minnesota Center for Bioethics. It is open to anyone interested in learning
about and discussing bioethical issues. Other topics covered include "The Affordable Care Act as Health Care Reform: Fact, Fiction, Spin" and "Shades of Gray: Ethics and Controversies about Brain Death."