Published in the Bloomington Pantagraph on September 25.

On behalf of the 12,000 physicians represented by the Illinois State Medical Society, I want to thank the Bloomington Pantagraph and reporter Paul Swiech for your excellent article on end-of-life planning (“Planning assures your end-of-life wishes are met,” Sept. 16).

All too often, physicians are faced with distraught families trying to unravel those “What would they want?” questions when a loved one is incapacitated and unable to communicate their wishes. We do our best to help, but sometimes it’s too late.

The Illinois State Medical Society has just released its latest version of “A Personal Decision,” a brochure containing a wealth of information that can help patients address those end-of-life questions in advance.

Parents and grandparents who do so now may save their children grief and anxiety later, as your article points out, and it is also very appropriate for children to urge their elders to make their wishes known.

Once again, in addition to all of the excellent resources cited in the article, “A Personal Decision” is available for free to download under the “For Patients” tab on our website at www.isms.org, or order a free print copy by calling 800-782-4767.

Wayne V. Polek, MD
pesident, Illinois State Medical Society.