meet eleanor tanno, m.d.
Dr. Eleanor Tanno is a practicing board certified Family Physician who is passionate about all people — young and old, healthy and sick — having an advance directive.
She developed her passion for advance directives after seeing many very sick patients arrive at the hospital without an advance directive or without ever having discussed their end-of-life wishes with their family members. She saw the toll this took on their family members who were unsure, torn, and often left feeling guilt after the decisions were made.
Equally as challenging were patients who had created an advance directive as part of their estate planning that was often too vague or those who had never actually discussed their advance directives with their medical decision makers.
Conversely, she saw how much easier this process was for families who had had end of life discussions with their loved ones. Having an advance directive greatly reduced the anguish for these families.
Dr. Tanno feels passionately that all people should have an advance directive, and whom better to facilitate these discussions and the process than a physician?
She understands these thoughts and conversations are intimidating and is determined to help people navigate the process. She speaks and writes on the topic, and conducts workshops to facilitate people through the process.