Rock doc: surgeon and writer Atul Gawande on old age and dying
New Statesman
What should doctors do when the drugs won’t work? Often it’s easier to push one more treatment than to acknowledge that “people have priorities other than living longer”.
I am thankful for 3 entrepreneurs working on the hardest problem in healthcare – dying
US – Medcity News
Writer Veronica Combs pays tribute to three people in the US who are working on “the hardest problem in healthcare – dying.”
Call for more investment in palliative care
Australian Ageing Agenda
Increased investment in palliative care can result in improved health outcomes for a person at end of life in a cost-effective way, Professor David Currow told the Australian Association of Gerontology national conference on Wednesday.
Could magic mushrooms become a new drug for hospice care?
US – PRI
Dr Charles Grob of the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center is a psychiatrist who has been studying how psilocybin, the psychoactive component of ‘magic mushrooms’, can reduce anxiety about death for cancer patients in the last months of their lives.
Recognizing National Hospice Month
US – The Sentinel Cumberlink
November is designated as National Hospice and Palliative Care Month in teh US. It offers hospice providers the opportunity to reach out to the community to raise awareness about the life-enriching support families experience through hospice care. Gil Brown, Guest Columnist, reflects on the importance of hospice.
UK – The Independent
GP Margaret McCartney argues that instead of seeing death as a repeated medical failure, we have to use medicine to care, if not cure, and ensure that at least by starting difficult conversations, we have a better chance to die in the way we want.
Palliative care doesn’t only go to the dying
US – The Georgia Straight
Dr Pippa Hawley is keen to shatter myths about palliative care. In a phone interview with the Georgia Straight, the UBC Medical School’s division head of palliative care emphasizes that it’s not only for those with terminal illnesses.
How end-of-life decisions are changing
US – WITF
While assisted suicide has been very much in the news, Dickinson College political science professor Jim Hoefler, an expert in end of life issues, says young American Brittany Maynard’s headline grabbing decision is a very small piece of the puzzle.
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