Download or read book Making Sense of Advance Directives written by N.M. King and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first time I read the medical consent and authorization. it had registered in my mind simply as a legal document. Now I began to understand what it meant. It was a letter of ultimate love and trust. (Schucking. 1985. p. 268) Ever since Karen Ann Quinlan slipped into permanent unconsciousness in 1975 and her father agonized publicly over whether she should remain indefinitely on a respirator (In re Quinlan, 1976), the desires of patients, their families, and their friends to limit the application of apparently limitless medical technology have been a pressing concern for ethics, law, and public policy. Ms. Quinlan's case contained nearly all the elements of the problems we still face: vague, general, but sincere prior oral statements suggesting that she would not want continued treatment; a family attempting to do what they saw as best for her; and physicians uncertain whether to use medical judgment alone (and if so, what the "right" medical decision was), to preserve her life at all costs, or to honor the family's interpretation of their daughter's choice. Most ironically, once she was removed from her respirator, she did not die. Karen Quinlan - like dozens of other names made famous by court decisions, newspaper stories, and television evening news - has come to symbolize a tangled knot of issues surrounding the end of life and who controls it.
Download or read book Making Sense of Advance Directives written by Nancy M.P. King and published by Georgetown University Press. This book was released on 1996-02-01 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Advance directives—such as living wills and health care proxies—are documents intended to declare and preserve the health care choices of patients if they become unable to make their own decisions. This book provides a comprehensive overview of advance directives and clear, practical directions for writing and interpreting them. Nancy M.P. King provides a legal, philosophical, and historical analysis of the moral and legal force of advance directives. She explains the types and models of advance directives currently in use and offers guidelines for individuals seeking to write, read, and use directives to promote individuals' health care choices within the laws of their own states. King emphasizes that advance directives are not orders given by patients to their doctors; instead, they are documents that invite conversation between doctors and patients about health care decisions of great importance. The purpose of advance directives is to support patients' health care choices, and the book promotes a thoughtful use of advance directives that is best calculated to achieve that purpose, whatever form individual advance directives may take. This new edition has been updated to reflect the many changes in advance directive statutes since 1991, including expanded discussions of health care proxy statutes, the impact of the Patient Self-Determination Act and the Supreme Court's Cruzan decision. King also has extended her analysis of the implications for advance directives of managed care, resource allocation, resource scarcity, and the debate over futile treatment at the end of life. Making Sense of Advance Directives is a valuable handbook for patients, health care providers and administrators, patient counselors, lawyers, policymakers, and any individual interested in advance directives.
Download or read book Dying in America written by Institute of Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2015-03-19 with total page 470 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For patients and their loved ones, no care decisions are more profound than those made near the end of life. Unfortunately, the experience of dying in the United States is often characterized by fragmented care, inadequate treatment of distressing symptoms, frequent transitions among care settings, and enormous care responsibilities for families. According to this report, the current health care system of rendering more intensive services than are necessary and desired by patients, and the lack of coordination among programs increases risks to patients and creates avoidable burdens on them and their families. Dying in America is a study of the current state of health care for persons of all ages who are nearing the end of life. Death is not a strictly medical event. Ideally, health care for those nearing the end of life harmonizes with social, psychological, and spiritual support. All people with advanced illnesses who may be approaching the end of life are entitled to access to high-quality, compassionate, evidence-based care, consistent with their wishes. Dying in America evaluates strategies to integrate care into a person- and family-centered, team-based framework, and makes recommendations to create a system that coordinates care and supports and respects the choices of patients and their families. The findings and recommendations of this report will address the needs of patients and their families and assist policy makers, clinicians and their educational and credentialing bodies, leaders of health care delivery and financing organizations, researchers, public and private funders, religious and community leaders, advocates of better care, journalists, and the public to provide the best care possible for people nearing the end of life.
Download or read book Advance Care Planning in End of Life Care written by Keri Thomas and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ACP is an essential part of end of life care with patients improving their chances of 'a good death' by creating plans with their families and carers. This new edition gives a comprehensive overview of ACP, explores a wide range of issues and practicalities in providing end of life care, and offers a worldwide perspective.
Download or read book The Hot House written by Pete Earley and published by Bantam. This book was released on 2011-11-09 with total page 558 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A stunning account of life behind bars at the federal penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas, where the nation’s hardest criminals do hard time. “A page-turner, as compelling and evocative as the finest novel. The best book on prison I’ve ever read.”—Jonathan Kellerman The most dreaded facility in the prison system because of its fierce population, Leavenworth is governed by ruthless clans competing for dominance. Among the “star” players in these pages: Carl Cletus Bowles, the sexual predator with a talent for murder; Dallas Scott, a gang member who has spent almost thirty of his forty-two years behind bars; indomitable Warden Robert Matthews, who put his shoulder against his prison’s grim reality; Thomas Silverstein, a sociopath confined in “no human contact” status since 1983; “tough cop” guard Eddie Geouge, the only officer in the penitentiary with the authority to sentence an inmate to “the Hole”; and William Post, a bank robber with a criminal record going back to when he was eight years old—and known as the “Catman” for his devoted care of the cats who live inside the prison walls. Pete Earley, celebrated reporter and author of Family of Spies, all but lived for nearly two years inside the primordial world of Leavenworth, where he conducted hundreds of interviews. Out of this unique, extraordinary access comes the riveting story of what life is actually like in the oldest maximum-security prison in the country. Praise for The Hot House “Reporting at its very finest.”—Los Angeles Times “The book is a large act of courage, its subject an important one, and . . . Earley does it justice.”—The Washington Post Book World “[A] riveting, fiercely unsentimental book . . . To [Earley’s] credit, he does not romanticize the keepers or the criminals. His cool and concise prose style serves him well. . . . This is a gutsy book.”—Chicago Tribune “Harrowing . . . an exceptional work of journalism.”—Detroit Free Press “If you’re going to read any book about prison, The Hot House is the one. . . . It is the most realistic, unbuffed account of prison anywhere in print.”—Kansas City Star “A superb piece of reporting.”—Tom Clancy
Download or read book Taking Advance Directives Seriously written by Robert S. Olick and published by Georgetown University Press. This book was released on 2001-07-18 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the quarter century since the landmark Karen Ann Quinlan case, an ethical, legal, and societal consensus supporting patients' rights to refuse life-sustaining treatment has become a cornerstone of bioethics. Patients now legally can write advance directives to govern their treatment decisions at a time of future incapacity, yet in clinical practice their wishes often are ignored. Examining the tension between incompetent patients' prior wishes and their current best interests as well as other challenges to advance directives, Robert S. Olick offers a comprehensive argument for favoring advance instructions during the dying process. He clarifies widespread confusion about the moral and legal weight of advance directives, and he prescribes changes in law, policy, and practice that would not only ensure that directives count in the care of the dying but also would define narrow instances when directives should not be followed. Olick also presents and develops an original theory of prospective autonomy that recasts and strengthens patient and family control. While focusing largely on philosophical issues the book devotes substantial attention to legal and policy questions and includes case studies throughout. An important resource for medical ethicists, lawyers, physicians, nurses, health care professionals, and patients' rights advocates, it champions the practical, ethical, and humane duty of taking advance directives seriously where it matters most-at the bedside of dying patients.
Download or read book The Mayo Clinic Book of Home Remedies written by Mayo Clinic and published by Oxmoor House. This book was released on 2010-10-26 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many common health problems can be treated with simple remedies you can do at home. Even if the steps you take don't cure the problem, they can relieve symptoms and allow you to go about your daily life, or at least help you until you're able to see a doctor. Some remedies, such as changing your diet to deal with heartburn or adapting your home environment to cope with chronic pain, may seem like common sense. You may have questions about when to apply heat or cold to injuries, what helps relieve the itch of an insect bite, or whether certain herbs, vitamins or minerals are really effective against the common cold or insomnia. You'll find these answers and more in Mayo Clinic Book of Home Remedies. In situations involving your health or the health of your family, the same questions typically arise: What actions can I take that are immediate, safe and effective? When should I contact my doctor? What symptoms signal an emergency? Mayo Clinic Book of Home Remedies clearly defines these questions with regard to your health concerns and guides you to choose the appropriate and most effective response.
Download or read book The Art of Dying Well written by Katy Butler and published by Scribner. This book was released on 2020-02-11 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This “comforting…thoughtful” (The Washington Post) guide to maintaining a high quality of life—from resilient old age to the first inklings of a serious illness to the final breath—by the New York Times bestselling author of Knocking on Heaven’s Door is a “roadmap to the end that combines medical, practical, and spiritual guidance” (The Boston Globe). “A common sense path to define what a ‘good’ death looks like” (USA TODAY), The Art of Dying Well is about living as well as possible for as long as possible and adapting successfully to change. Packed with extraordinarily helpful insights and inspiring true stories, award-winning journalist Katy Butler shows how to thrive in later life (even when coping with a chronic medical condition), how to get the best from our health system, and how to make your own “good death” more likely. Butler explains how to successfully age in place, why to pick a younger doctor and how to have an honest conversation with them, when not to call 911, and how to make your death a sacred rite of passage rather than a medical event. This handbook of preparations—practical, communal, physical, and spiritual—will help you make the most of your remaining time, be it decades, years, or months. Based on Butler’s experience caring for aging parents, and hundreds of interviews with people who have successfully navigated our fragmented health system and helped their loved ones have good deaths, The Art of Dying Well also draws on the expertise of national leaders in family medicine, palliative care, geriatrics, oncology, and hospice. This “empowering guide clearly outlines the steps necessary to prepare for a beautiful death without fear” (Shelf Awareness).
Download or read book Ethical Considerations and Challenges in Geriatrics written by Angela Georgia Catic and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-01-31 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is designed to present an overview of common geriatrics ethical issues that arise during patient care and research activities. Each chapter includes a case example and practical learning pearls that are useful in day-to-day patient care. Coverage includes a brief overview of geriatric epidemiology, highlighting the high rates of dementia, use of surrogate decisions makers at the end-of-life, relocation from home to long-term care facilities, and low health literacy in the geriatrics population. Sections are devoted to issues around capacity, surrogate decision making, end-of-life care, hemodialysis in the elderly, and futility as well as challenges presented by independence questions, such as dementia care, driving, feeding, and intimacy in nursing homes. The text also addresses questions around recognizing, reporting, and treating elder abuse and self-neglect, ethics related to research and technology in the geriatric population, and the use of e-mail, Facebook, and open notes. Written by experts in the field, Ethical Considerations and Challenges in Geriatrics is a valuable tool for trainees at a variety of levels including medical students, residents, and fellows. In addition, it provides practical guidance and a useful reference for practicing geriatricians, primary care physicians, geriatric nurses, social workers, nursing home workers, hospice care employees, and all medical health professionals working with the elderly.
Download or read book Core Topics in Pain written by Anita Holdcroft and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2011-03-03 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Originally published in 2005, Core Topics in Pain provides a comprehensive, easy-to-read introduction to this multi-faceted topic. It covers a wide range of issues from the underlying neurobiology, through pain assessment in animals and humans, diagnostic strategies, clinical presentations, pain syndromes, to the many treatment options, for example, physical therapies, drug therapies, psychosocial care and the evidence base for each of these. Written and edited by experts of international renown, the many concise but comprehensive chapters provide the reader with a guide to all aspects of pain. It is an essential book for anaesthetic trainees and is also an invaluable first reference for surgical and nursing staff, ICU professionals, operating department practitioners, physiotherapists, psychologists, healthcare managers and researchers with a need for an overview of the key aspects of the topic.
Download or read book Physical Therapy Management written by Ronald W. Scott and published by Elsevier Health Sciences. This book was released on 2008-01-01 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discover what it takes to succeed in the "real world" of physical therapy practice, where you'll rely not only on your clinical skills, but on management skills such as budgeting, recruiting, professional development, and limiting your risk of liability. Expert authors Ron Scott and Christopher Petrosirio guide you through the essentials of practice management to help you understand and master these skills and more. You'll find ideas for marketing your practice, as well as advice and information on negotiation and dispute resolution, human resources management, quality and risk management, legal and ethical issues, and fiscal management. Specific case examples from the authors' own experiences illustrate important points throughout the book. Well-known author Ron Scott draws from his unique experiences as a physical therapist clinical manager, MBA, and health law attorney to provide a uniquely comprehensive and insightful overview of physical therapy practice management.An emphasis on human resources ("people") management offers effective strategies for recruiting, selecting, and retaining the best clinicians and support professionals in this increasingly competitive field.Case examples based on the authors' own experiences bring concepts to life.Engaging exercises - including group discussions, role-playing scenarios, and short answer - help you strengthen your critical thinking skills.Current terminology from the APTA Guide to Physical Therapist Practice, 2nd Edition is used throughout.
Download or read book Mental Health Ethics written by Phil Barker and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2010-11-09 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mental Health Ethics provides an overview of traditional and contemporary ethical perspectives and critically examines a range of ethical and moral challenges present in contemporary ‘psychiatric-mental’ health services.
Download or read book Palliative Care in Cardiac Intensive Care Units written by Massimo Romanò and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-09-29 with total page 195 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book analyzes the main topics of Palliative Care in Cardiac Intensive Care Units (CICU), from the changing epidemiology of patients admitted to the ICU, to the main clinical and ethical issues. The changing epidemiology of patients has led to new and emerging patient needs at the end of life. Care has shifted from acute coronary syndrome patients towards elderly patients, with a high prevalence of non-ischemic cardiovascular diseases and a high burden of non-cardiovascular comorbid conditions: both increase the susceptibility of patients to developing life-threatening critical conditions. These conditions are associated with a significant symptom burden, high mortality rate, and increased length of stay. The main new challenges involve shared decision-making, symptom control (pain, dyspnea, etc.), and ethical issues (withholding/withdrawing life sustaining treatments, deactivation of implanted cardiac devices, palliative sedation), all of which necessitate formal education on end-of-life care. Written by opinion leaders in their respective fields, who share their experience with improving the cultural and clinical competence of medical/nursing teams, this volume is chiefly intended for cardiologists, anesthesiologists, palliative care doctors and nursing staff.
Download or read book Drugs in Pregnancy written by Radhwan Nidal Al-Zidan and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2020-06-09 with total page 436 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This first-of-its-kind handbook offers crucial information on the safety of drugs taken during pregnancy. It covers an exhaustive list of common and less common drugs and provides for each drug the FDA letter categorization and newly approved “Pregnancy and Lactation Labeling Rule (PLLR)” systems for rating drug risks in pregnancy, imposed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Drugs in Pregnancy: A Handbook for Pharmacists and Physicians covers the pregnancy ramifications of using anti-infective, cardiovascular, hematologic, dermatologic drugs and drugs affecting the endocrine, central, autonomic, gastrointestinal, musculoskeletal systems in addition to herbs, vitamins and dietary supplements. To enable the reader to develop well-informed knowledge about a drug safety profile during pregnancy, three sections of data have been provided for each drug: FDA Category, Risk Summary, and Further Reading.
Download or read book Extreme Measures written by Dr. Jessica Nutik Zitter, M.D. and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2021-08-24 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For readers of Being Mortal and Modern Death, an ICU and Palliative Care specialist offers a framework for a better way to exit life that will change our medical culture at the deepest level In medical school, no one teaches you how to let a patient die. Jessica Zitter became a doctor because she wanted to be a hero. She elected to specialize in critical care—to become an ICU physician—and imagined herself swooping in to rescue patients from the brink of death. But then during her first code she found herself cracking the ribs of a patient so old and frail it was unimaginable he would ever come back to life. She began to question her choice. Extreme Measures charts Zitter’s journey from wanting to be one kind of hero to becoming another—a doctor who prioritizes the patient’s values and preferences in an environment where the default choice is the extreme use of technology. In our current medical culture, the old and the ill are put on what she terms the End-of-Life Conveyor belt. They are intubated, catheterized, and even shelved away in care facilities to suffer their final days alone, confused, and often in pain. In her work Zitter has learned what patients fear more than death itself: the prospect of dying badly. She builds bridges between patients and caregivers, formulates plans to allay patients’ pain and anxiety, and enlists the support of loved ones so that life can end well, even beautifully. Filled with rich patient stories that make a compelling medical narrative, Extreme Measures enlarges the national conversation as it thoughtfully and compassionately examines an experience that defines being human.
Download or read book Outcomes Assessment in Clinical Practice written by Lloyd I. Sederer and published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. This book was released on 1996 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Theories of the Self and Autonomy in Medical Ethics written by Michael Kühler and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-09-29 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book engages in a critical discussion on how to respect and promote patients’ autonomy in difficult cases such as palliative care and end-of-life decisions. These cases pose specific epistemic, normative, and practical problems, and the book elucidates the connection between the practical implications of the theoretical debate on respecting autonomy, on the one hand, and specific questions and challenges that arise in medical practice, on the other hand. Given that the idea of personal autonomy includes the notion of authenticity as one of its core components, the book explicitly includes discussions on underlying theories of the self. In doing so, it brings together original contributions and novel insights for “applied” scenarios based on interdisciplinary collaboration between German and Serbian scholars from philosophy, sociology, and law. It is of benefit to anyone cherishing autonomy in medical ethics and medical practice.
