Respecting Choices® and advance directives in a diverse community.

Background: Respecting Choices® is a program designed and verified to improve advance care planning, yet it has not been tested in racially/ethnically diverse communities. Research has shown racial/ethnic minorities are less likely to have advance directives (ADs).

Objective: To determine whether Respecting Choices® would improve AD prevalence and utilization in a racially and ethnically diverse community.

Catholic identity and charity care in the era of health reform.

Catholic healthcare institutions live amidst tension between three intersecting primary values, namely, a commitment of service to the poor and vulnerable, promoting the common good for all, and financially sustainability. Within this tension, the question sometimes arises as to whether it is ever justifiable, i.e.