To the Editor:

Re “What You Should Know Before You Need a Ventilator,” by Kathryn Dreger (Op-Ed, nytimes.com, April 4):

My fellow physician Dr. Kathryn Dreger details the realities of being intubated and ventilated. The bigger question that she raises is what each of us wants at the end of life, and what is important to us.

Death will come to each of us, whether in the normal course of time or now, in the Covid-19 pandemic. We cannot escape that. But how we die is something we can sometimes influence.

We have the ability to make choices about what and how much intervention we would want. For many of us, these choices do not get made until the middle of a crisis, and most often that is because we haven’t taken the time to talk with our loved ones about what we would want. If we haven’t thought that through and shared our thoughts with those who will care for us, then the path of least resistance, at least initially, is usually full intervention, full support, including the intubation and ventilation that Dr. Dreger details.

The picture painted by Dr. Dreger ought to make us stop and think, “Is this really what I would want to go through if I get this disease?” And if not, the time is now to have the conversations, to be clear about our choices.