Something is terribly wrong: The majority of Americans want to die at home surrounded by family and friends, but most end up dying in the hospital or nursing home, cared for by strangers. Half of Americans die in pain that could have been treated. Sick people have come to fear losing their dignity or burdening their families more than they fear death. And this is all happening in a country that is meant to prize the rights of individuals and champion respect for personal wishes. What can be done?

Paul Malley is President of Aging with Dignity, a national non-profit organization based in Tallahassee, Florida. More than eight million Americans have used Aging with Dignity’s “Five Wishes” document to plan in advance of a serious illness. Today “Five Wishes” is distributed by 10,000 organizations – including physicians, attorneys, hospitals, hospices, employers, and places of worship. Paul Malley and the work of Aging with Dignity have been featured in national media including the CBS, NBC, and ABC evening news, CNN, MSNBC, NBC Today Show, Good Morning America, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times,Newsweek, Time and Consumer Reports.

The Five Wishes document helps you express how you want to be treated if you are seriously ill and unable to speak for yourself. It is unique among all other living will and health agent forms because it looks to all of a person's needs: medical, personal, emotional and spiritual. Five Wishes also encourages discussing your wishes with your family and physician.

Five Wishes lets your family and doctors know:

Which person you want to make health care decisions for you when you can't make them.

. The kind of medical treatment you want or don't want.

How comfortable you want to be.

How you want people to treat you.

What you want your loved ones to know.