Angelo Volandes

Dr. Angelo Volandes will explore an unspoken tenet of American medicine—to keep patients alive at any price. Two-thirds of Americans die in healthcare institutions at bankrupting costs, even though research shows that most prefer to die at home in comfort, surrounded by loved ones. Dr. Volandes argues for a re-envisioning of the patient-clinician relationship and suggests new ways to ensure that patients will be in charge of their medical care.

Angelo Volandes is a physician, writer, and patients’ rights advocate. He practices internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and is on faculty at Harvard Medical School. He is Co-Founder and President of Advance Care Planning (ACP) Decisions, a non-profit foundation implementing systems and technologies to improve the quality of care delivered to patients in the health care system. He is the author of the new book “The Conversation: A Revolutionary Plan for End-of-Life Care,” about how people can empower themselves to get the right medical care at the right time and on their terms.