Culture, Ethics, and Advance Care Planning

Set against a backdrop of cultural diversity, the current emphasis on advance care planning, both in the United States and abroad, necessitates a sourcebook on how to navigate such complex terrain. This book will serve as a guide to best practice for advance care planning in a multicultural society. Such a guide will help those trying to engage in the often delicate discussions that take place during advance care planning to do so in a culturally sensitive manner. In addition, the book will provide general guidance in discussing difficult issues in a multicultural clinical setting. Given how entrenched advance care planning is in the medical context, to not attempt to engage in the process in a culturally sensitive way smacks of a dangerous indifference and sets the stage for conflict where calm could exist. In the fast-paced world of clinical medicine, recognizing and acknowledging differences in worldviews is often overlooked. When dealing with the delicate issues broached in advance care planning, such oversights can lead to deep rifts within the health care provider-patient relationship. This damage can be irreparable. By providing guidance to those engaged in such endeavors and setting advance care planning in a global context, health care practitioners will be better able to care for their patients and achieve the noble goal of advance care planning_giving volume to the voice of the patient in the last chapter of her life.