Warner Kicks Off Advanced Illness Discussion

As U.S. Sen. Mark Warner begins his third attempt to push a bill through congress that would begin to address one of the most costly and criticized elements of health care: making decisions for someone else makes them for you.

Warner assembled a Round Table on Advanced Illness at the Loudoun County Public Schools Administration Building in Ashburn Wednesday to listen to a range of opinions. Warner explained that he understands the difficulty of the topic since his mother had Alzheimer’s and did not speak for the last 10 years of her life.

“We’d never had that discussion,” Warner said, even though both of her parents suffered from same disease. The country as a whole seems to have trouble broaching the subject, he said.

“It’s remarkable to me that America may be the only country in the world that hasn’t had a real adult conversation about this,” Warner told the group, which included hospice workers, hospitals personnel, members of the faith community, elected officials and those in the psychiatric and sociological fields.

After opponents of the health care plan began using the term “death panels” to describe any such discussion, Warner said, “Talk about this issue completely disappeared. People were terrified.”

However, the statistics show it’s an issue Americans must face.

“Eighty percent of Americans will not be able to make their own medical decisions,” Warner said, explaining that a medical condition will cause someone else to make those decisions. And while 60 percent of people want to provide advance guidance when asked, half have not done so.

Several members of the round table suggested a public service campaign to make sure more people were aware of the need to plan for potential situations and make such plans known to family and friends.

One participant suggested turning the conversation around, “so we’re not talking about how to die, but how to live. End of life is loaded. It paralyzes and frightens them.”

Warner said he seeks ideas about how to move forward and would try to seek money to fund such idea. He like the idea of a public service message, perhaps on a regional basis.