The best care possible : a physician's quest to transform care through the end of life

A doctor on the front lines of hospital care illuminates one of the most important and controversial ethical issues of our time. Dr. Ira Byock, one of the foremost palliative-care physicians in the country, argues that how we die is among the biggest national crises facing us today. In addressing the sorry state of dying in America, politics has trumped reason. Dr. Byock explains that to ensure the best possible care for those we love—and eventually ourselves—we must not only remake our healthcare system, we must also move past our cultural aversion to talking about dying and acknowledge the fact of mortality once and for all. In so doing, we can live emotionally authentic, healthier, and more joyful lives. Dr. Byock describes what palliative care really is, and—with a doctor’s compassion and insight—puts a human face on the issues by telling richly moving, heart-wrenching, and uplifting stories of real people during the most difficult moments in their lives. Byock takes us inside his busy, leading-edge academic medical center to show what the best care through the end of life can look like and how doctors and nurses can profoundly shape the way families experience loss. Pt. 1. The best care possible. The best care possible pt. 2. Life-and-death decisions. Between Scylla and Charybdis, a rock and a hard place, and the Devil and the deep blue sea ; Balancing acts: weighing potential benefits against risks and burdens pt. 3. Palliative care: completing the therapeutic continuum. Palliative care: a surprising new specialty (Hint: it's not just for dying) ; Morbidity and mortality pt. 4. Real doctoring for the twenty-first century. What are doctors for? ; The busy day that Sharon died pt. 5. Transforming medicine and society. Fixing health care ; Imagining a care-full society ; Standing on common high ground. It is harder to be seriously ill - and much harder to die - than ever before. These days, we effectively treat diseases, but often overlook the priorities of the people who are ill. As a result, too many Americans suffer needlessly and die badly. Here one of the nation's foremost leaders in palliative care takes us inside a state-of-the-art academic medical center and opens our eyes to an issue that will affect our loved ones, our neighbors, and ourselves.