Less than a year after Amy's mother was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma she died. Amy's family were fortunate she had decision-making capacity until the end and that she could make treatment decisions for the immediate questions, as well as give them all directions about what was coming. Amy's family had those hard conversations about goals of care, her mother's wishes, and treatment decisions--they just all took place in a short time frame with an immediate impact. Amy's family were lucky. They were spared having to second-guess themselves about what her mother may have wanted.
Amy Vandenbroucke have always been interested in the intersection of health law and ethics. She was serving as Legal Counsel for Oregon Health & Science University when the opportunity for her to be an Associate Director at the OHSU Center for Ethics in Health Care opened. In that role, she served as Chair of the Oregon POLST Task Force for 2 years and the Executive Director of the National POLST Paradigm for 4 years (2 years of overlap). Amy is so grateful that the opportunity to help promote a process that can make end of life easier for patients and families, helping others have hard conversations and ensuring treatment preferences are elicited, documented and honored.
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