The Golden Thread

Making Healthcare Decisions in Neighborhoods

By: M. Margaret McDonnell RSCJ

Narrated by: Martin Hurm

This book can be used when making difficult healthcare decisions at home with no available guidance. It is also used if one's financial situation is such that a family is concerned about not being able to afford some or all care being offered. In such situations, this book helps patients, families, and neighbors gather together as they make difficult decisions right in their homes.

A very particular decision process is used. If the suggested process does not accommodate the decision to be made, other processes are included in the appendix. By enabling the gathering of people at such times, we can help patients make these serious decisions in their own home environment.

Do they or do they not want the proposed surgery, for example? If a particular procedure would sustain life when without it one's life would be in jeopardy, what should a person do? Making these decisions in the home instead of a hospital or other institutional environment allows a patient to engage in what becomes a life review, but with family and neighborhood support. A patient's final decision is rooted in their cherished values. The process leads to a deeply discerned and sound treatment decision.

©2022 M. Margaret McDonnell, RSCJ (P)2023 M. Margaret McDonnell, RSCJ