Advance Directives: An Oncology Nurse’s Personal Experience With End-of-Life Decision Making and Its Complexities

Not until I had experienced my own mother's illness and death did I appreciate the complexity of end-of-life decision making. As an oncology nurse practitioner, I had been trained in advance directives. I understood the importance and why they were needed. However, my own family's experience taught me that such planning does not always prevail over the spectrum of emotions, family dynamics, and other realities that accompany death.