Welcome to Ask Gail–a place to share questions and answers about what matters to us most: family, friends, community, health, peace, books, favorite resources, what feeds our soul… Ask Gail is also where we can create and share very important information like my “Gail’s Guide to Going to the Hospital.” Stay tuned for more…
Posts Tagged ‘palliative care’
What exactly is palliative care?
Posted By askgail on April 16th, 2010
Palliative care is the umbrellas under which hospice is but one facet; palliative care is NOT hospice care.
- Palliative care is a simultaneous care model that begins with diagnosis of a serious, chronic, or terminal illness
- Curative (life-prolonging) and palliative care can exist concurrently.
- Pain IS a medical emergency and must be managed as such.
- Pain is physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and existential.
- There are only c. 3000 palliative care doctors in the US.
- There are only 4 hospitals in Fairfield county with palliative care teams.
Click here to go to the getpalliativecare.org web site.
A Life Worth Living : A Doctor's Reflections
Posted By askgail on April 8th, 2009
In his new book, Robert Martensen presents case studies that illustrate the problems and complexities of American health care system, and argues that safeguarding the quality of a patient’s life sometimes trumps the urge to sustain life at all cost.
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Posted in BOOKS
