You Might Wanna Die Elsewhere
Shannon Brownlee Discusses End-of-Life Overtreatment—and Names L.A. As a Culprit
Shannon Brownlee, acting director of the New America Foundation Health Policy Program, began an event sponsored by the California HealthCare Foundation by taking a survey of the crowd at MOCA Grand Avenue. She asked audience members to raise their hands in order to let her know how they wanted to die. The crowd was nearly motionless as she went through her list: heart attack, stroke, cancer, Alzheimer’s, frailty. But when she asked who wanted to die in bed at age 90, after playing tennis, eating dinner, and making love, almost …
