Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I wish to recognize National Healthcare Decisions Day, which is next Wednesday, April 16, a day to educate the public about advance care planning and encourage them to have conversations with loved ones to plan for end-of-life decisions. I am pleased that over 50 organizations--representing health providers, communities of faith, the legal community, and the public sector--in Florida are participating in the day's events. This issue has been important to me throughout my career, and as the chairman of the Senate's Special Committee on Aging, I had the opportunity to chair a hearing on end-of-life care last June. We found that polls show most Americans would like to talk about their advanced care needs, but they do not know how or with whom to have these conversations. In fact, only about 20 percent of Americans have executed an advanced directive, in part due to a lack of knowledge about planning. Our hearing also touched on some commonsense solutions that individuals have used to broach this topic with their loved ones. For example, Aging with Dignity, an organization based in my home State of Florida, has created a simple resource called Five Wishes that is focused on things that are meaningful for patients and families, rather than a system of advance care planning dictated exclusively by the terms of doctors and lawyers. Five Wishes takes into account personal, emotional, and spiritual needs as well as medical wishes.…”