Description

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Palliative Care is the first book to provide a comprehensive understanding of the new field that is transforming the way Americans deal with serious illness.

Diane E. Meier, M.D., one of the field's leaders and a recipient of a MacArthur Foundation "genius award" in 2009, opens the volume with a sweeping overview of the field. In her essay, Dr. Meier examines the roots of palliative care, explores the key legal and ethical issues, discusses the development of palliative care, and presents ideas on policies that can improve access to palliative care.

Dr. Meier's essay is followed by reprints of twenty-five of the most important articles in the field. They range from classic pieces by some of the field's pioneers, such as Eric Cassel, Balfour Mount, and Elizabeth Kübler-Ross, to influential newer articles on topics such as caregiving and cost savings of palliative care. The reprints cover a wide range of topics including:

Why the care of the seriously ill is so important

Efforts to cope with advanced illness

Legal and ethical issues

Pain management

Cross-cultural issues

Philosophical perspective

The demand for palliative care has been nothing short of stunning?largely because of palliative care's positive impact on both the quality and the cost of care provided to seriously ill individuals. By providing a wide-ranging perspective on this growing field, this book will serve as a guide for developing meaningful approaches that will lead to better health care for all Americans.

About the Author

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Dr. Diane E. Meier’s transformative contributions to the field of palliative care have permanently changed the landscape of mainstream American medicine. She is known as an organizational trailblazer, a pioneering clinician, an innovative medical educator, and an influential author, researcher, advocate, and thought leader. As founder and director of the Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC)—a national organization dedicated to increasing the number and quality of palliative care programs in the United States—Dr. Meier has put palliative care on the map. In the last ten years alone, the number of palliative care programs in U.S. hospitals has more than tripled, moving CAPC closer to its goal of bringing palliative care everywhere. As part of her professional mission, Dr. Meier has made a career-long commitment to palliative care education, research, and advocacy. She is a faculty member at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, where she currently is Catherine Gaisman Professor of Medical Ethics, and Professor of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine. She founded and directed the Hertzberg Palliative Care Institute at Mount Sinai, from 1997 until 2011. Dr. Meier has published several books and more than 200 original peer-reviewed papers. Her most recent book, Meeting the Needs of Older Adults with Serious Illness: Challenges and Opportunities in the Age of Health Care Reform, was published by Humana in 2014. She edited the first textbook on geriatric palliative care, as well as four editions of Geriatric Medicine.