End of Life Handbook

Description

The miracles of modern medicine allow us to live longer with serious medical conditions than ever before. Following a terminal diagnosis, patients may live for months or years before passing away. A side effect of this reality is that patients and their families are facing unprecedented choices about how and where the death will occur. They often must choose between painful treatments that may extend life and care focused on comfort that may hasten death. They confront endless medical opinions and receive little guidance about how to decide between them.This practical yet compassionate guide offers the families of individuals nearing the end of life caring, compassionate, and practical advice on dealing with the process of a loved one's death. In the first section, the book offers practical advice, clearly explaining medical information, treatment options and practical decisions that must be made in many terminal-care situations. Then the book stresses the opportunities for hope, personal control, and loving family connection that occur during periods of palliative care.

Ira Bycock. MD, is the author of Dying Well and The Four Things That Matter Most. David B. Feldman, Ph.D, is assistant professor of counseling psychology at Santa Clara University. He holds a PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Kansas and completed a fellowship in palliative care at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System, where he worked with countless patients and families confronting serious medical illness. His research and writings have addressed such topics as hope, meaning, and growth in the face of life's difficult circumstances. Steven Andrew Lasher, Jr., MD, is currently director of Palliative Medicine at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco, CA. He also serves as the San Francisco medical director of Sutter Visiting Nurses Association Hospice and Home Care as well as the Medical Director of Coming Home Hospice. He completed his residency in internal medicine at Stanford Hospital and Clinics in Palo Alto, CA, as well as fellowship training in Palliative Medicine at Stanford/Palo Alto Veteran's Hospital.