…an advance directive is a way of extending my fatherly caring into a future when I will be the object of attention – and emotional distress. Envisioning such scenes, I imagine that my daughters might wish for my arm around their shoulders.

“If I ever end up like that, just let me go,” my dad declared. “I don’t want anything to do with a feeding tube or any of that nonsense.” My father’s statement about his grandmother…

Like most healthy 24 year olds, I rarely want to think about my own eventual death. Yes, I’ve had moments when my own end-of life wishes occurred to me — when I’ve heard stories on…