Description
Book SynopsisExamines crucial concerns in palliative care, including the proper balance between comfort and cure for the patient, the integration of spiritual well-being, and the challenges of providing care in the absence of basic medical services and supplies.
Trade Review“The authors have done an extraordinary job of walking readers through the history of palliative care and showing the current and potential future of the profession.”
—Doody's Review Service
“An illustrious group of scholars, doctors, nurses, chaplains, and ethicists joins together to offer robust—and indispensable—insight into health and healing. The Pursuit of Life is a vigorous and vital resource for anyone in the position of being a caregiver.”
—Siddhartha Mukherjee,Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer
“The Pursuit of Life offers a teaching not just on how to die well but also on how to live well in the face of suffering and death. The insights offered by this distinguished cadre of writers shed light on health and healing alongside living and dying.”
—Balfour M. Mount, M.D., O.C. O.Q.
“This is a beautiful, diverse, wise book about the experience of working in palliative care and the personal, collegial, cultural, ethical, moral, practical, and clinical challenges that clinicians practicing in our field confront. The editors and authors have crafted a deep portrait of what it means to work in the liminal space between life and death in palliative care.”
—Susan Block, MD,Harvard Medical School
“This remarkable collection of essays explores the range and depth of human caring for people with life-threatening illness. In caring well, we can alleviate suffering and preserve people’s capacity to grow—inwardly and together—through the end of life. This is the gift that palliative care brings in service to the gift of life itself.”
—Ira Byock, MD, FAAHPM,author of Dying Well and The Best Care Possible
“The Pursuit of Life is an impressive and immensely important collection which addresses the history, nuances, and status of palliative care while also posturing future directions. It contributes significantly to the burgeoning field of medical humanities and explores multivalent trajectories which are nobly aimed at easing suffering. I commend this thought-provoking and compassionate book to all who are dedicated to this goal.”
—Robert Newman, PhD,President and Director, National Humanities Center
“Bioethicists have contributed to and may learn from these insightful essays on the origins, meaning, and future of palliative care. This magnificent volume, at the intersection of secular bioethics, spirituality, religion, and narrative medicine, will speak to all health professionals and laypersons who care about human flourishing through life’s end.”
—Mildred Z. Solomon, EdD,President, The Hastings Center
“This original book approaches the discussion of palliative care from both a clinical and classically academic perspective. It is rare to find a history of program development adjacent to a discussion of how the themes of Odysseus highlight the issues of suffering and compassion.”
—M. Elizabeth Paulk, M.D.,UT Southwestern Medical Center
“An important addition to health science collections and libraries at colleges with strong nursing programs.”
—A. W. Klink Choice
Table of ContentsForeword, Diane E. Meier
Acknowledgments
Introduction, Robert Fine and Jack Levison
Palliative Care: Personal Memoirs
1. Evolution of Palliative Nursing: Art, Science, and Collaboration, Constance Dahlin
2. The Challenge of Bringing Palliative Medicine and Person-Centered Care to Large Hospitals and Universities, Eduardo Bruera
3. The Evolutionary Relationship of Oncology and
Palliative Care: A Personal Journey, Neil MacDonald
4. Palliative Medicine: A Personal Journey, Declan Walsh
Palliative Care: Pain and Suffering
5. Time to Death: Chronos, Kairos, and the “Longest Distance Between Two Poles,” Joseph J. Fins
6. Teaching Clinicians to Read: How Narrative Medicine Prepares Clinicians for Palliative Care, Kathryn B. Kirkland
7. Sophocles, Hospice, and the Call of the Body, Joseph Calandrino
Palliative Care: Essential Issues
8. What Is Autonomy and What Is It Good For?, Daniel P. Sulmasy
9. Human Flourishing and Palliative Care: Autonomy, Mortality, and Rationality, Robin W. Lovin
10. The Robin Hood of Opioids: Palliative Care in the Underdeveloped World, James Cleary
11. Overcoming the Devastation Caused by Cultivated Ignorance About Pain and Opioid Addiction, Constantino Benedetti
12. Artificial Intelligence in Palliative Care: An Integral Look into the Future of Our End, Dominique J. Monlezun
Palliative Care: The Caregiver
13. A Spiritual Environment of Caring, Courtenay R. Bruce, Stacy L. Auld, and Charles R. Millikan
14. Preparing Spiritual Caregivers: Personal Reflections, Practical Advice, and Helpful Programs, W. Andrew Achenbaum
15. Palliative Care: A Chaplain’s Perspective, Bettie Jo Tennon Hightower
16. Lucia’s Dream: A Holistic Approach to Adolescents with Cancer, Tullio Proserpio, Elena Pagani Bagliacca, Giovanna Sironi, and Andrea Ferrari
Appendix
The Marialuisa Lectureship for Life: A Brief Introduction, Mauro Ferrari
