Statement attributed to:
Gerald E. Harmon, M.D.
President, American Medical Association
“The American Medical Association encourages everyone to see advance care planning as an important task to complete, both for themselves and for their loved ones.
“Choices regarding the care you want at the end of life are difficult, but advance care planning helps ensure that your wishes are respected even when you can’t speak for yourself.
“National Healthcare Decisions Day on April 16 offers resources to help individuals think about how they want decisions to be made and talk to families and physicians about their choices. Doing this now ensures that health care decisions can be made the way they want when the need arises.
“Physicians can play an important role in supporting patient self-determination by facilitating decision-making during advance care planning. Patients should speak with their physicians and take advantage of the health care community as a resource for advance care planning.”
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About the American Medical Association
The American Medical Association is the physicians’ powerful ally in patient care. As the only medical association that convenes 190+ state and specialty medical societies and other critical stakeholders, the AMA represents physicians with a unified voice to all key players in health care. The AMA leverages its strength by removing the obstacles that interfere with patient care, leading the charge to prevent chronic disease and confront public health crises and, driving the future of medicine to tackle the biggest challenges in health care.
