Peaceful protestors encounter unexpected injuries, hospital stays during COVID-19: end-of-life plans encouraged

Nationwide — Leading educator and recognized expert in advance care planning, Dr. Gloria Thomas Anderson, urges a major push in preparing advance healthcare documents for Black Americans, especially now during the protests happening simultaneously during a deadly pandemic.

Dr. Anderson offers 21 things the Black community needs to know to get their advance care decisions in order before the need arises, in her book, The African-American Spiritual and Ethical Guide to End-of-Life Care: What Y’all Gon’ Do With Me.

In a recent COVID Ethics Update webinar for the Center for Practical Bioethics, Dr. Anderson stated, “We want to see people having those conversations,” as it relates to getting people to talk about end-of-life care plans and emergency healthcare planning.

Black communities are historically the most vulnerable, and Black Americans are much less likely, when compared to whites, to utilize end-of-life care options (8% Blacks vs 83+% whites), such as hospice and palliative care, that can offer support and helpful resources many families never know are available to them.

With the imminent threat of COVID-19 disproportionately hitting Black lives, Dr. Anderson stresses the criticality for the Black community to make tough decisions now to avoid added duress upon their loved ones in the event of an emergent need for medical care and attention during protests or afterward, if having to fight for survival from COVID-19.

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