Dr. Nick Schneeman, Chief Medical Officer for Lifespark was very heartfelt in an opinion piece in Medscape where he weighed in on the need for physicians and providers to have human conversations with people about end-of-life decisions and not have that dictated by AI.
As Chief Medical Officer of a complete senior health company, and as a physician with more than three decades of personal experience in geriatrics, Dr. Nick said, “I know we can improve the final chapter of life for our older adults and our taxpayers. If medical professionals don’t do a better job with patients at the end of life, then key decisions increasingly will be driven by the money-centered phone banks.”
The single biggest improvement is having a frank and direct talk with senior patients about end-of-life wishes. Remarkably, only 1 in 10 Americans say they’ve ever had an end-of-life conversation with their doctor or healthcare provider — no heartfelt talk about what quality of life looks like under different treatment options. Only half ever discussed the topic with a spouse or loved one.
