Funeral Consumers Alliance

Let’s imagine an end-of-life scenario. Your ailing and elderly parent has been admitted to the hospital yet again with a condition she’s not going to recover from. The medical team asks what they should do if her heart stops. She’s always said she didn’t want to die "hooked up to a bunch of machines," but you’ve never really explored the details. Besides, though she has a terminal illness, no one has yet mentioned the d-word.

The key question: Should your parent have a D.N.R. order, meaning "do not resuscitate"?

Before you answer, another key question: Would that decision be any clearer, easier or less painful if the order was instead called A.N.D., for "allow natural death?"