This collection of essays, reports, newspaper articles, documents and narratives includes opinions and information from all sides of the case. Doctors describe how feeding tubes work and what roles ex
As a bereavement care specialist, Dr. Virginia Simpson has devoted her career to counseling individuals and families grappling with illness, death, and grieving. But when her own mother, Ruth, is diag
When Stan Goldberg was diagnosed with cancer, he chose to face his fear by helping others who were already in the process of dying: Stan signed up as a hospice volunteer and spent several years at the
This insightful study examines the deeply personal and heart-wrenching tensions among financial considerations, emotional attachments, and moral arguments that motivate end-of-life decisions.America’s
The fail-safe plan for ensuring one's final wishes are respected Advanced directives and living wills have improved our ability to dictate end-of-life care, but even these cannot guaran-tee that we w
A practicing music thanatologist provides an insider's history of this remarkable profession, which combines music, medicine, and spirituality to help the terminally ill and their families face the e
As a hospice nurse and photographer, Mary Landberg has the honor to witness and capture in photographs the unwavering expression of love that endures between people living with terminal illness and th
In Intimations of Mortality, Barbara Reich offers an empirically-based critique of the failures of end-of-life communication and decision-making in the United States. Using England and Canada as occasional foils, Reich explores why U.S. physicians, patients, and families struggle to have the conversations necessary to provide seriously ill and dying patients with medical care consistent with their preferences. Reich also shows how a number of different factors –including payment mechanisms, liability fears, cultural phenomena, communication avoidance, death denial, and clinical uncertainty –impact physician-patient communication and medical decision-making, leave patients and families without the tools they need to make informed choices, and instead leave the default practices in place. Ultimately, this groundbreaking analysis unveils the interconnectedness of the many obstacles to better communication and decision-making in end-of-life communications and offers much-needed suggestions
Reflections of a Loving Partner is the intimate story of two devoted partners confronting the challenges of a terminal diagnosis. Author C. Andrew Martin's world was shattered when his life partner, G
This enlightening volume provides first-hand perspectives and ethnographic research on communication at the end of life, a topic that has gone largely understudied in communication literature. Author
This book presents clear and sensitive guidance for nurses and health care professionals on all aspects of dealing with patient deaths. Advice ranges from coping with your own emotions and those of r
In postindustrial societies, people must consciously define their individuality through the choices they make. Recently, death has become yet another realm of personal choice, making a "good death" on
