End-of-life planning is crucial for individuals of old age and those who suffer from chronic diseases.

A new program from Pennsylvania State College of Medicine and Pennsylvania State University could make it easier for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients to plan their end-of-life decisions. This will allow patients to have their wishes met as their disease worsens and they're unable to oversee their care.

The program was created in order to teach patients about their decision-making options, while allowing them to remain hopeful about their outcome by noting that the plans come into play for worst-case scenarios.

Surprisingly, the program's developers noted that there is a large gap between COPD patients who take care of their end-of-life planning and those who do not.

"Despite the high mortality associated with COPD, few patients either engage in end-of-life planning or create an 'advance directive' [to be] used by health professionals when patients cannot speak for themselves," said Joshua Hozella, the research's author.