This was published as an op-ed in the Times of India on Oct 2 2015. Here is the link.

Excerpt:

Kids need to start eliciting from parents, maybe in subtle ways, their thoughts and choices about death and dying: How they would like to be treated in a ‘worst-case scenario’, what their priorities are, what they think the concluding days/weeks of their life should be like if ‘something’ happens, etc. Gawande says that the most cruel failure in how we treat the sick (end-of-life care is not just about the elderly) and the aged is the failure to recognise that they also have priorities beyond merely being safe and living longer.