This is what a good death could be
Recently, a neighbor and friend of mine died. After her cancer was diagnosed as incurable, she was referred to hospice care, and family members traveled long distances to spend quality time with her during her last month of life. Her neighbors in our condo building clamored for slots in her packed social calendar. Two days […]Find jobs at Careers by KevinMD.com. Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now. Learn more. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - September 20, 2020 Category: General Medicine Authors: < span itemprop="author" > < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/larry-beresford" rel="tag" > Larry Beresford < /a > < /span > Tags: Conditions Palliative Care Source Type: blogs
Moral Distress and COVID-19: Worlds Collide
by Vickie Leff (@VickieLeff)As a clinical social worker, I am often approached by my medical colleagues asking for support and a listening ear around difficult cases, understanding their own reactions, team dysfunction, and moral distress. In the middle of this COVID pandemic, Social Workers, Chaplains, Nurses, Physicians, Respiratory Therapists, Child Life Specialists, etc. are all likely experiencing an increase in moral distress. This is due to the necessary change of focus from “patient-centered” to “community -based” approach, and resource allocation issues such as PPE shortage, health inequities, visitation l...
Source: Pallimed: A Hospice and Palliative Medicine Blog - September 14, 2020 Category: Palliative Care Tags: covid hapc hpm leff moral distress social work social worker Source Type: blogs
A palliative care physician ’s brain bleed [PODCAST]
“As a runner, my pulse rests around fifty, but the ICU team had worried when it dipped to thirty-five, and my blood pressure hovered around ninety over fifty. Understandably, bags of saline were hung, and steroids were added. My headache improved, but my ankles disappeared, and I was often short of breath. Upon discharge, I […]Find jobs at Careers by KevinMD.com. Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now. Learn more. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - September 12, 2020 Category: General Medicine Authors: < span itemprop="author" > < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/the-podcast-by-kevinmd" rel="tag" > The Podcast by KevinMD < /a > < /span > Tags: Podcast Neurology Palliative Care Source Type: blogs
Alain Cocq Abandons VSED / FVNF / Sterbefasten
Voluntarily stopping eating and drinking (VSED) can be a comfortable and peaceful way to hasten one's death. One usually dies within 10 to 14 days. But while not essential it is important to have support from experienced palliative care clinicians.Appa... (Source: blog.bioethics.net)
Source: blog.bioethics.net - September 12, 2020 Category: Medical Ethics Authors: Thaddeus Mason Pope, JD, PhD Tags: Health Care syndicated Source Type: blogs
Advance Directives/Care Planning: Clear, Simple, and Wrong
Sean Morrison wrote a provocative article this summer in the Journal of Palliative Medicine titled "Advance Directives / Care Planning: Clear, Simple, and Wrong." One key line challenges long held tenets in bioethics, palliative care, and medicine... (Source: blog.bioethics.net)
Source: blog.bioethics.net - September 7, 2020 Category: Medical Ethics Authors: Thaddeus Mason Pope, JD, PhD Tags: Health Care syndicated Source Type: blogs
Physician Attitudes to Voluntary Assisted Dying: A Scoping Review
Jodhi Rutherford, Lindy Willmott (Queensland University of Technology), Ben White (Queensland University of Technology), Physician Attitudes to Voluntary Assisted Dying: A Scoping Review, BMJ Supportive& Palliative Care (2020): Background: Voluntary assisted dying became legal in the Australian state of... (Source: HealthLawProf Blog)
Source: HealthLawProf Blog - September 4, 2020 Category: Medical Law Authors: Katharine Van Tassel Source Type: blogs
Book Review: " From Here To Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death " by Caitlin Doughty
by Jared Rubenstein (@DrJRubenstein)Caitlin Doughty is a mortician, funeral home owner, author, and activist who strives to instill more death positivity into our classically death-avoidant culture. Through her writing, websitecaitlindoughty.com,podcast andnumerous YouTube videos she utilizes her signature voice and style to both educate and entertain. In her book,From Here To Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death, Ms. Doughty treats the author to a whirlwind tour of different cultural practices around death throughout the world. In equal parts travelogue and ethnography, the reader gets to experience eight ...
Source: Pallimed: A Hospice and Palliative Medicine Blog - August 31, 2020 Category: Palliative Care Tags: book review Source Type: blogs
When the best care is a comfortable death
I am no stranger to death. I have gently closed the eyelids of a woman dying from liver disease, blasted Led Zeppelin by request during a man’s last breath, and exchanged dog photos with an elderly gentleman on his final day. Although I cared for these patients deeply, our relationships were defined by illness. Ms. […]Find jobs at Careers by KevinMD.com. Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now. Learn more. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - August 26, 2020 Category: General Medicine Authors: < span itemprop="author" > < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/jessica-lu" rel="tag" > Jessica Lu, MD < /a > < /span > Tags: Conditions Palliative Care Source Type: blogs
Let ’s talk about dying
Every time I visit my great grandmother, Tata, Atul Gawande ’s Being Mortal floods my thoughts. Tata is 101 and developed severe dementia within the past two years. In 2019, she fell and fractured her hip. In the hospital, she recovered poorly. The physicians on her team offered hospice. My grandfather (her only son), declined fervently. […]Find jobs at Careers by KevinMD.com. Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now. Learn more. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - August 23, 2020 Category: General Medicine Authors: < span itemprop="author" > < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/jennifer-li" rel="tag" > Jennifer Li < /a > < /span > Tags: Conditions Neurology Palliative Care Source Type: blogs
The COVID-19 pandemic is changing end-of-life care. We ’re not ready.
The last thing Jessica said to John, her fianc é of 10 years, was, “I love you” before he drove to work. Hours later, after suddenly experiencing a cardiac arrest at the office, he was in an ICU bed attached to a ventilator. He was pale and unresponsive, on multiple medications to artificially augment his blood […]Find jobs at Careers by KevinMD.com. Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now. Learn more. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - August 18, 2020 Category: General Medicine Authors: < span itemprop="author" > < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/lochan-shah" rel="tag" > Lochan Shah, MD < /a > < /span > Tags: Conditions COVID-19 coronavirus Infectious Disease Palliative Care Source Type: blogs
A physician ’s work is hard. And it is sacred.
In today’s increasingly technological, data-driven, depersonalized world of health care, I wonder if the concept of “a good death” is even possible. The COVID-19 pandemic, in particular, has caused me to reflect on this. What does it look like? How do you define it? As I did, a patient came to mind. He was a […]Find jobs at Careers by KevinMD.com. Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now. Learn more. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - August 17, 2020 Category: General Medicine Authors: < span itemprop="author" > < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/andy-lamb" rel="tag" > Andy Lamb, MD < /a > < /span > Tags: Physician Hospital-Based Medicine Palliative Care Source Type: blogs
Palliative care during the pandemic [PODCAST]
“We are health care workers. We are doctors, advanced care practitioners, nurses, pharmacists, social workers, and so much more. We are on the frontlines. We are our parents ’ children, and we are parents to our young children. For the first time, we are at an extremely high risk of being quarantined by the same beast […]Find jobs at Careers by KevinMD.com. Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now. Learn more. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - August 13, 2020 Category: General Medicine Authors: < span itemprop="author" > < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/the-podcast-by-kevinmd" rel="tag" > The Podcast by KevinMD < /a > < /span > Tags: Podcast COVID-19 coronavirus Infectious Disease Palliative Care Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, August 10th 2020
This study aimed to characterize the role of BDNF in age-related microglial activation. Initially, we found that degrees of microglial activation were especially evident in the substantia nigra (SN) across different brain regions of aged mice. The levels of BDNF and TrkB in microglia decreased with age and negatively correlated with their activation statuses in mice during aging. Interestingly, aging-related microglial activation could be reversed by chronic, subcutaneous perfusion of BDNF. Peripheral lipopolysaccharide (LPS) injection-induced microglial activation could be reduced by local supplement of BDNF, while shTrkB...
Source: Fight Aging! - August 9, 2020 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
Practice empathy and compassion for the critically ill and dying [PODCAST]
“It seems as though the looming reality for many of us is that we will have patients who need ventilators, and none will be available. It seems like we might benefit from remembering that we can still succeed in practicing medicine by being present with those suffering before us, even when we know we cannot […]Find jobs at Careers by KevinMD.com. Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now. Learn more. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - August 1, 2020 Category: General Medicine Authors: < span itemprop="author" > < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/the-podcast-by-kevinmd" rel="tag" > The Podcast by KevinMD < /a > < /span > Tags: Podcast Palliative Care Primary Care Source Type: blogs
Compelling Ethical Challenges in Critical Care and Emergency Medicine
This new book addresses the ethical problems that physicians have to face every day while caring for critically ill patients. Improved treatments in emergency and critical care, have resulted in more patients surviving with reduced quality of life. This entails trade-offs for many patients, their families, and the teams caring for them. In 16 chapters experts in their respective fields describe compelling ethical challenges resulting from these discrepancies and discuss potential solutions.How Ethics Can Support Clinicians Caring for Critically Ill Patients
Patients and Teams Caring for Them: Parallels Between Critical Car...
Source: blog.bioethics.net - July 31, 2020 Category: Medical Ethics Authors: Thaddeus Mason Pope, JD, PhD Tags: Health Care syndicated Source Type: blogs
