Speaking for the Dying: Life-and-Death Decisions in Intensive Care

Susan P. Shapiro, PhD 
Research Professor 
American Bar Foundation 
Recorded November 13, 2019 

Seven in ten older Americans who require medical decisions in the final days of life lack capacity to make them. For many of us, our biggest life-and-death decisions—literally—will therefore be made by someone else. But how will they decide for us? Despite their critical role in choreographing the end of another’s life, we know remarkably little. Susan Shapiro’s new book, Speaking for the Dying, fills that void. Drawing on daily observations over more than two years in two intensive care units in a diverse urban hospital, Shapiro shares how loved ones actually speak for the dying, the criteria they use in medical decisions on behalf of patients without capacity, and the limited role of advance directives in this process.

This lecture was part of the 2019-2020 Bioethics Brownbag & Webinar Series, presented by the Center for Ethics.