Still Learning 3: Approaching the End of the Runway: Medical and legal decision-making for the final chapters of your life

This course will take place on September 5 in Mercer and September 12 in Hurley, 1:00-3:00 p.m., with Martha Pierpont and Ryan Long.

The September 5 Mercer class will take place at the Mercer Public Library, and the September 12 Hurley class will take place at the Iron County Courthouse Board Room. These two classes are a consecutive course; they build upon each other, so they should both be attended.

The course will be given in two sessions, each 2 hours long, covering the following topics:

• Optimizing end of life care.
• End of life medical decision making and the necessary legal documents that every adult should have in place.

In the first class, Martha Pierpont will show a video and review with students the book “Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End” by Atul Gawande, about “end of life” decision making. Students will have an opportunity to discuss their feelings about the process. Students will also study and discuss ways to optimize their medical care in clinic, hospital and nursing home settings.

In the second class, Attorney Ryan J. Long will go through the legal documents that are often used during end of life decision making, including living wills, health care powers of attorney, and do-not-resuscitate orders. Attorney Long will also go through well-known guardianship cases with the class and discuss how an individual can attempt to avoid a guardianship proceeding. Students will view short videos of cases where individuals did not have proper “end of life” documents in place. Students should also be able to identify the most necessary basic legal documents that all adults should have in place and the legal requirements for executing them.

Instructors:  Martha Pierpont and Ryan Long

Course Requirement: Before the first class, students are encouraged to please read or review a synopsis of “Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End” by Atul Gawande. Multiple editions of this book are being held at the Mercer Public Library for your use. Additional reading materials will be provided before the second class.

Offline Registration: Download PDF Registration Form, complete and mail in with payment.

Registration Questions? Contact us or call (715) 862-2032 or (715) 476-2881.

Registration Issues/Troubleshooting: If you are registering with one email address for two or more people, please register each person individually (i.e. do not register all at once, but add students one at a time to checkout). If you continue to have difficulty or have another question, please contact us.

Course Cancellations: Students are encouraged to register at least 2 weeks before the beginning of any Fe University course. A course with less than 4 students 2 weeks before the start date may be cancelled at instructor/FeU discretion, with students’ registrations refunded. If you’re interested in a class, please sign up early! Thank you.

Student Cancellations: If a registered student cancels, registration can be refunded if requested 4 or more days before the course’s start date. We’re afraid cancellation requests made 3 or fewer days before the course’s start date are unable to be refunded.

All courses in our series Still Learning After All These Years are priced at a discount thanks to a generous donation from the Northern Wisconsin Mental Health Foundation.