The Nature of Suffering and the Goals of Medicine

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Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199748004
Total Pages : 336 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (997 download)

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Book Synopsis The Nature of Suffering and the Goals of Medicine by : Eric J. Cassell

Download or read book The Nature of Suffering and the Goals of Medicine written by Eric J. Cassell and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2004-03-25 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a revised and expanded edtion of a classic in palliative medicine, originally published in 1991. With three added chapters and a new preface summarizing our progress in the area of pain management, this is a must-hve for those in palliative medicine and hospice care. The obligation of physicians to relieve human suffering stretches back into antiquity. But what exactly, is suffering? One patient with metastic cancer of the stomach, from which he knew he would shortly die, said he was not suffering. Another, someone who had been operated on for a mior problem--in little pain and not seemingly distressed--said that even coming into the hospital had been a source of pain and not suffering. With such varied responses to the problem of suffering, inevitable questions arise. Is it the doctor's responsibility to treat the disease or the patient? And what is the relationship between suffering and the goals of medicine? According to Dr. Eric Cassell, these are crucial questions, but unfortunately, have remained only queries void of adequate solutions. It is time for the sick person, Cassell believes, to be not merely an important concern for physicians but the central focus of medicine. With this in mind, Cassell argues for an understanding of what changes should be made in order to successfully treat the sick while alleviating suffering, and how to actually go about making these changes with the methods and training techniques firmly rooted in the doctor's relationship with the patient. Dr. Cassell offers an incisive critique of the approach of modern medicine. Drawing on a number of evocative patient narratives, he writes that the goal of medicine must be to treat an individual's suffering, and not just the disease. In addition, Cassell's thoughtful and incisive argument will appeal to psychologists and psychiatrists interested in the nature of pain and suffering.

The Nature of Suffering and the Goals of Nursing

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Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190450428
Total Pages : 140 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (94 download)

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Book Synopsis The Nature of Suffering and the Goals of Nursing by : Betty R. Ferrell

Download or read book The Nature of Suffering and the Goals of Nursing written by Betty R. Ferrell and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2008-01-10 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The essence of nursing care continually exposes nurses to suffering. Although they bear witness to the suffering of others, their own suffering is less frequently exposed. This slim volume attempts to give voice to the suffering that nurses witness in patients, families, colleagues, and themselves. By making this suffering visible, the authors wish to honor it and to learn from it. The audience includes nurses in all phases of training and practice - from students to educators to clinicians - in the wide array of settings and specialties in which nurses care for patients. The book offers nurses' colleagues in other professions - social workers, psychologists, chaplains, ethicists, and physicians - a rare window onto what it means to practice nursing. Drs. Ferrell and Coyle are also the editors of Textbook of Palliative Nursing, 2nd ed (Oxford, 2006). Independently, they have worked more than 50 years in oncology nursing, caring for patients and working to improve the quality of care that patients receive.

The Nature of Suffering

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Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN 13 : 9780195052220
Total Pages : 254 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (522 download)

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Book Synopsis The Nature of Suffering by : Eric J. Cassell

Download or read book The Nature of Suffering written by Eric J. Cassell and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 1991 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Nature of Suffering underscores the change that is taking place in medicine from a basic concern with disease to a greater focus on the sick person. Cassell centers his discussion on the problem of suffering because, he says, its recognition and relief are a test of the adequacy of any system of medicine. He describes what suffering is and its relationship to the sick person: bodies do not suffer, people do. An exclusive concern with scientific knowledge of the body and disease, therefore, impedes an understanding of suffering and diminishes the care of the suffering patient. The growing criticism that medicine is not sufficiently humanistic does not go deep enough to provide a basis for a new understanding of medicine. New concepts in medicine must have their basis in its history and in the development of ideas about disease and treatment. Cassell uses many stories about patients to demonstrate that, despite the current dominance of science and technology, there can be no diagnosis, search for the cause of the patient's disease, prognostication, or treatment without consideration of the individual sick person. Recent trends in medicine and society, Cassell believes, show that it is time for the sick person to be not merely an important concern for physicians but the central focus of medicine. He addresses the exciting problems involved in such a shift. In this new medicine, doctors would have to know the person as well as they know the disease. What are persons, however, and how are doctors to comprehend them? The kinds of knowledge involved are varied, including values and aesthetics as well as science. In the process of knowing the experience of patient and doctor move to center stage. He believes that the exploration of the person will engage medicine in the 21st century just as understanding the body has occupied the last hundred years.

The nature of suffering and the goals of medicine

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 7 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (851 download)

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Book Synopsis The nature of suffering and the goals of medicine by : Eric J. Cassel

Download or read book The nature of suffering and the goals of medicine written by Eric J. Cassel and published by . This book was released on 1986 with total page 7 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

The Nature of Suffering and the Goals of Medicine

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Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199882649
Total Pages : 336 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (998 download)

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Book Synopsis The Nature of Suffering and the Goals of Medicine by : Eric J. Cassell

Download or read book The Nature of Suffering and the Goals of Medicine written by Eric J. Cassell and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2004-03-25 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a revised and expanded edtion of a classic in palliative medicine, originally published in 1991. With three added chapters and a new preface summarizing our progress in the area of pain management, this is a must-hve for those in palliative medicine and hospice care. The obligation of physicians to relieve human suffering stretches back into antiquity. But what exactly, is suffering? One patient with metastic cancer of the stomach, from which he knew he would shortly die, said he was not suffering. Another, someone who had been operated on for a mior problem--in little pain and not seemingly distressed--said that even coming into the hospital had been a source of pain and not suffering. With such varied responses to the problem of suffering, inevitable questions arise. Is it the doctor's responsibility to treat the disease or the patient? And what is the relationship between suffering and the goals of medicine? According to Dr. Eric Cassell, these are crucial questions, but unfortunately, have remained only queries void of adequate solutions. It is time for the sick person, Cassell believes, to be not merely an important concern for physicians but the central focus of medicine. With this in mind, Cassell argues for an understanding of what changes should be made in order to successfully treat the sick while alleviating suffering, and how to actually go about making these changes with the methods and training techniques firmly rooted in the doctor's relationship with the patient. Dr. Cassell offers an incisive critique of the approach of modern medicine. Drawing on a number of evocative patient narratives, he writes that the goal of medicine must be to treat an individual's suffering, and not just the disease. In addition, Cassell's thoughtful and incisive argument will appeal to psychologists and psychiatrists interested in the nature of pain and suffering.

The Goals of Medicine

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Publisher : Georgetown University Press
ISBN 13 : 9781589014442
Total Pages : 258 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (144 download)

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Book Synopsis The Goals of Medicine by : Mark J. Hanson

Download or read book The Goals of Medicine written by Mark J. Hanson and published by Georgetown University Press. This book was released on 2000-10-27 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Debates over health care have focused for so long on economics that the proper goals for medicine seem to be taken for granted; yet problems in health care stem as much from a lack of agreement about the goals and priorities of medicine as from the way systems function. This book asks basic questions about the purposes and ends of medicine and shows that the answers have practical implications for future health care delivery, medical research, and the education of medical students. The Hastings Center coordinated teams of physicians, nurses, public health experts, philosophers, theologians, politicians, health care administrators, social workers, and lawyers in fourteen countries to explore these issues. In this volume, they articulate four basic goals of medicine — prevention of disease, relief of suffering, care of the ill, and avoidance of premature death — and examine them in light of the cultural, political, and economic pressures under which medicine functions. In reporting these findings, the contributors touch on a wide range of diverse issues such as genetic technology, Chinese medicine, care of the elderly, and prevention and public health. The Goals of Medicine clearly demonstrates the importance of clarifying the purposes of medicine before attempting to change the economic and organizational systems. It warns that without such examination, any reform efforts may be fruitless.

Suffering in Theology and Medical Ethics

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Author :
Publisher : Brill U Schoningh
ISBN 13 : 9783506715425
Total Pages : 244 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (154 download)

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Book Synopsis Suffering in Theology and Medical Ethics by : Christof Mandry

Download or read book Suffering in Theology and Medical Ethics written by Christof Mandry and published by Brill U Schoningh. This book was released on 2021-12 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Medicine, ethics, and theology embrace various ideas and concepts regarding human suffering - ranging from pain, suffering from loneliness, a lack of meaning or finitude, to a religious understanding of suffering, grounded in a suffering and compassionate God. In the practices of clinical medical ethics and health care chaplaincy, these diverse concepts overlap. What kind of conflicts arise from different concepts in patient care and counseling, and how should they be dealt with in a reflective way? Fostering international interdisciplinary scientific conversations, the book aims to deepen the discussion in medical ethics concerning the understanding of suffering, and the caring and counseling of patients.

Disease Control Priorities in Developing Countries

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Publisher : World Bank Publications
ISBN 13 : 0821361805
Total Pages : 1449 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (213 download)

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Book Synopsis Disease Control Priorities in Developing Countries by : Dean T. Jamison

Download or read book Disease Control Priorities in Developing Countries written by Dean T. Jamison and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2006-04-02 with total page 1449 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Based on careful analysis of burden of disease and the costs ofinterventions, this second edition of 'Disease Control Priorities in Developing Countries, 2nd edition' highlights achievable priorities; measures progresstoward providing efficient, equitable care; promotes cost-effectiveinterventions to targeted populations; and encourages integrated effortsto optimize health. Nearly 500 experts - scientists, epidemiologists, health economists,academicians, and public health practitioners - from around the worldcontributed to the data sources and methodologies, and identifiedchallenges and priorities, resulting in this integrated, comprehensivereference volume on the state of health in developing countries.

Evidence-Based Medicine and the Changing Nature of Health Care

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Author :
Publisher : National Academies Press
ISBN 13 : 0309113695
Total Pages : 202 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis Evidence-Based Medicine and the Changing Nature of Health Care by : Institute of Medicine

Download or read book Evidence-Based Medicine and the Changing Nature of Health Care written by Institute of Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2008-09-06 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on the work of the Roundtable on Evidence-Based Medicine, the 2007 IOM Annual Meeting assessed some of the rapidly occurring changes in health care related to new diagnostic and treatment tools, emerging genetic insights, the developments in information technology, and healthcare costs, and discussed the need for a stronger focus on evidence to ensure that the promise of scientific discovery and technological innovation is efficiently captured to provide the right care for the right patient at the right time. As new discoveries continue to expand the universe of medical interventions, treatments, and methods of care, the need for a more systematic approach to evidence development and application becomes increasingly critical. Without better information about the effectiveness of different treatment options, the resulting uncertainty can lead to the delivery of services that may be unnecessary, unproven, or even harmful. Improving the evidence-base for medicine holds great potential to increase the quality and efficiency of medical care. The Annual Meeting, held on October 8, 2007, brought together many of the nation's leading authorities on various aspects of the issues - both challenges and opportunities - to present their perspectives and engage in discussion with the IOM membership.

Philosophy of Medicine

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Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190612150
Total Pages : 256 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (96 download)

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Book Synopsis Philosophy of Medicine by : Alex Broadbent

Download or read book Philosophy of Medicine written by Alex Broadbent and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2019-01-17 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Philosophy of Medicine asks two central questions about medicine: what is it, and what should we think of it? Philosophy of medicine itself has evolved in response to developments in the philosophy of science, especially with regard to epistemology, positioning it to make contributions that are medically useful. This book locates these developments within a larger framework, suggesting that much philosophical thinking about medicine contributes to answering one or both of these two guiding questions. Taking stock of philosophy of medicine's present place in the landscape and its potential to illuminate a wide range of areas, from public health to policy, Alex Broadbent introduces various key topics in the philosophy of medicine. The first part of the book argues for a novel view of the nature of medicine, arguing that medicine should be understood as an inquiry into the nature and causes of health and disease. Medicine excels at achieving understanding, but not at translating this understanding into cure, a frustration that has dogged the history of medicine and continues to the present day. The second part of the book explores how we ought to consider medicine. Contemporary responses, such as evidence-based medicine and medical nihilism, tend to respond by fixing high standards of evidence. Broadbent rejects these approaches in favor of Medical Cosmopolitanism, or a rejection of epistemic relativism and pluralism about medicine that encourages conversations between medical traditions. From this standpoint, Broadbent opens the way to embracing alternative medicine. An accessible and user-friendly guide, Philosophy of Medicine puts these different debates into perspective and identifies areas that demand further exploration.

Relieving Pain in America

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Publisher : National Academies Press
ISBN 13 : 030921484X
Total Pages : 383 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (92 download)

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Book Synopsis Relieving Pain in America by : Institute of Medicine

Download or read book Relieving Pain in America written by Institute of Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2011-10-26 with total page 383 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Chronic pain costs the nation up to $635 billion each year in medical treatment and lost productivity. The 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act required the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to enlist the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in examining pain as a public health problem. In this report, the IOM offers a blueprint for action in transforming prevention, care, education, and research, with the goal of providing relief for people with pain in America. To reach the vast multitude of people with various types of pain, the nation must adopt a population-level prevention and management strategy. The IOM recommends that HHS develop a comprehensive plan with specific goals, actions, and timeframes. Better data are needed to help shape efforts, especially on the groups of people currently underdiagnosed and undertreated, and the IOM encourages federal and state agencies and private organizations to accelerate the collection of data on pain incidence, prevalence, and treatments. Because pain varies from patient to patient, healthcare providers should increasingly aim at tailoring pain care to each person's experience, and self-management of pain should be promoted. In addition, because there are major gaps in knowledge about pain across health care and society alike, the IOM recommends that federal agencies and other stakeholders redesign education programs to bridge these gaps. Pain is a major driver for visits to physicians, a major reason for taking medications, a major cause of disability, and a key factor in quality of life and productivity. Given the burden of pain in human lives, dollars, and social consequences, relieving pain should be a national priority.

The Oxford Handbook of Ethics at the End of Life

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Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199974411
Total Pages : 489 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (999 download)

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Book Synopsis The Oxford Handbook of Ethics at the End of Life by : Stuart J. Youngner

Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Ethics at the End of Life written by Stuart J. Youngner and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016 with total page 489 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This handbook is currently in development, with individual articles publishing online in advance of print publication. At this time, we cannot add information about unpublished articles in this handbook, however the table of contents will continue to grow as additional articles pass through the review process and are added to the site. Please note that the online publication date for this handbook is the date that the first article in the title was published online.

Illness Behavior

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Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 1468452576
Total Pages : 421 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (684 download)

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Book Synopsis Illness Behavior by : Sean McHugh

Download or read book Illness Behavior written by Sean McHugh and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 421 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In August, 1985, the 2nd International Conference on Illness Behaviour was held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The first International Conference took place one year previous in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. This book is based on the proceedings of the second conference. The purpose behind this conference was to facilitate the development of a single integrated model to account for illness experience and presentation. A major focus of the conference was to outline methodological issues related to current behaviour research. A multidiscipl~nary approach was emphasized because of the bias that collaborative efforts are likely to be the most successful in achieving greater understanding of illness behaviour. Significant advances in our knowledge are occurring in all areas of the biological and social sciences, albeit more slowly in the latter areas. Marked specialization in each of these areas has lead to greater difficulty in integrating new knowledge with that of other areas and the development of a meaningful cohesive model to which all can relate. Thus there is a major need for forums such as that provided by this conference.

Moral Resilience

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Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190619295
Total Pages : 304 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (96 download)

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Book Synopsis Moral Resilience by : Cynda Hylton Rushton

Download or read book Moral Resilience written by Cynda Hylton Rushton and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-10-02 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Suffering is an unavoidable reality in health care. Not only are patients and families suffering but also the clinicians who care for them. Commonly the suffering experienced by clinicians is moral in nature, in part a reflection of the increasing complexity of health care, their roles within it, and the expanding range of available interventions. Moral suffering is the anguish that occurs when the burdens of treatment appear to outweigh the benefits; scarce human and material resources must be allocated; informed consent is incomplete or inadequate; or there are disagreements about goals of treatment among patients, families or clinicians. Each is a source of moral adversity that challenges clinicians' integrity: the inner harmony that arises when their essential values and commitments are aligned with their choices and actions. If moral suffering is unrelieved it can lead to disengagement, burnout, and undermine the quality of clinical care. The most studied response to moral adversity is moral distress. The sources and sequelae of moral distress, one type of moral suffering, have been documented among clinicians across specialties. It is vital to shift the focus to solutions and to expanded individual and system strategies that mitigate the detrimental effects of moral suffering. Moral resilience, the capacity of an individual to restore or sustain integrity in response to moral adversity, offers a path forward. It encompasses capacities aimed at developing self-regulation and self-awareness, buoyancy, moral efficacy, self-stewardship and ultimately personal and relational integrity. Clinicians and healthcare organizations must work together to transform moral suffering by cultivating the individual capacities for moral resilience and designing a new architecture to support ethical practice. Used worldwide for scalable and sustainable change, the Conscious Full Spectrum approach, offers a method to solve problems to support integrity, shift patterns that undermine moral resilience and ethical practice, and source the inner potential of clinicians and leaders to produce meaningful and sustainable results that benefit all.

Medical Apartheid

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Publisher : Vintage
ISBN 13 : 076791547X
Total Pages : 530 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (679 download)

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Book Synopsis Medical Apartheid by : Harriet A. Washington

Download or read book Medical Apartheid written by Harriet A. Washington and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2008-01-08 with total page 530 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER • The first full history of Black America’s shocking mistreatment as unwilling and unwitting experimental subjects at the hands of the medical establishment. No one concerned with issues of public health and racial justice can afford not to read this masterful book. "[Washington] has unearthed a shocking amount of information and shaped it into a riveting, carefully documented book." —New York Times From the era of slavery to the present day, starting with the earliest encounters between Black Americans and Western medical researchers and the racist pseudoscience that resulted, Medical Apartheid details the ways both slaves and freedmen were used in hospitals for experiments conducted without their knowledge—a tradition that continues today within some black populations. It reveals how Blacks have historically been prey to grave-robbing as well as unauthorized autopsies and dissections. Moving into the twentieth century, it shows how the pseudoscience of eugenics and social Darwinism was used to justify experimental exploitation and shoddy medical treatment of Blacks. Shocking new details about the government’s notorious Tuskegee experiment are revealed, as are similar, less-well-known medical atrocities conducted by the government, the armed forces, prisons, and private institutions. The product of years of prodigious research into medical journals and experimental reports long undisturbed, Medical Apartheid reveals the hidden underbelly of scientific research and makes possible, for the first time, an understanding of the roots of the African American health deficit. At last, it provides the fullest possible context for comprehending the behavioral fallout that has caused Black Americans to view researchers—and indeed the whole medical establishment—with such deep distrust.

Being Mortal

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Publisher : Metropolitan Books
ISBN 13 : 1627790551
Total Pages : 304 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (277 download)

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Book Synopsis Being Mortal by : Atul Gawande

Download or read book Being Mortal written by Atul Gawande and published by Metropolitan Books. This book was released on 2014-10-07 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: #1 New York Times Bestseller In Being Mortal, bestselling author Atul Gawande tackles the hardest challenge of his profession: how medicine can not only improve life but also the process of its ending Medicine has triumphed in modern times, transforming birth, injury, and infectious disease from harrowing to manageable. But in the inevitable condition of aging and death, the goals of medicine seem too frequently to run counter to the interest of the human spirit. Nursing homes, preoccupied with safety, pin patients into railed beds and wheelchairs. Hospitals isolate the dying, checking for vital signs long after the goals of cure have become moot. Doctors, committed to extending life, continue to carry out devastating procedures that in the end extend suffering. Gawande, a practicing surgeon, addresses his profession's ultimate limitation, arguing that quality of life is the desired goal for patients and families. Gawande offers examples of freer, more socially fulfilling models for assisting the infirm and dependent elderly, and he explores the varieties of hospice care to demonstrate that a person's last weeks or months may be rich and dignified. Full of eye-opening research and riveting storytelling, Being Mortal asserts that medicine can comfort and enhance our experience even to the end, providing not only a good life but also a good end.

Integrative Medicine and the Health of the Public

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Publisher : National Academies Press
ISBN 13 : 030914731X
Total Pages : 245 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis Integrative Medicine and the Health of the Public by : Institute of Medicine

Download or read book Integrative Medicine and the Health of the Public written by Institute of Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2009-10-16 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The last century witnessed dramatic changes in the practice of health care, and coming decades promise advances that were not imaginable even in the relatively recent past. Science and technology continue to offer new insights into disease pathways and treatments, as well as mechanisms of protecting health and preventing disease. Genomics and proteomics are bringing personalized risk assessment, prevention, and treatment options within reach; health information technology is expediting the collection and analysis of large amounts of data that can lead to improved care; and many disciplines are contributing to a broadening understanding of the complex interplay among biology, environment, behavior, and socioeconomic factors that shape health and wellness. On February 25 - 27, 2009, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) convened the Summit on Integrative Medicine and the Health of the Public in Washington, DC. The summit brought together more than 600 scientists, academic leaders, policy experts, health practitioners, advocates, and other participants from many disciplines to examine the practice of integrative medicine, its scientific basis, and its potential for improving health. This publication summarizes the background, presentations, and discussions that occurred during the summit.