Palliative/End of Life Care

The text covers 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; and philosophical perspective.

Providing a detailed picture of contemporary palliative care, this book chronicles four centuries of the quest for a good death, covering the fight against futile end-of-life treatments, the history of life-extending treatments and technologies, the roles of nurses, the liberation of the dying from isolation in hospitals and hard-won victories to secure patients' right to choose.

A practical guide to the management of the myriad symptoms and quality-of-life issues that occur in patients with cancer—including newly diagnosed patients, patients undergoing treatment, cancer survivors, and patients whose disease is no longer curable.