Emergency Medicine and Palliative Care
The emergency department (ED) cares for people with conditions all along the spectrum of illness and injury: Those with chronic, progressive illness and those with acute illness; those with and…
Veterans, Veterans Administration Health Care, and Palliative Care
This chapter describes characteristics of the Veterans Administration Health System and then considers characteristics of veterans from different war eras. It describes two specific problems that veterans receiving palliative care…
Palliative Care in the Intensive Care Unit
The primary goal of intensive care medicine is to attempt to save lives by supporting and normalizing physiology as much as possible during an acute life-threatening illness. Since the inception…
Pediatric Palliative Care
Many of the skills required of general medicine physicians in the day-to-day care of patients are the same as those needed for specialist palliative care. Knowing how to communicate, appreciating…
Pulmonary Palliative Medicine
The symptoms that derive from pulmonary disease processes account for a large percentage of referrals to palliative care practices. Although most of these cases involve malignant lung disease, more than…
Gastrointestinal Malignancies
Gastrointestinal malignancies are the most commonly diagnosed cancers in the world. Before any management decisions are made with this patient population, it is critical to understand the patient’s expected overall…
Principles of Palliative Surgery
The old adage “a chance to cut is a chance to cure” is often used to characterize the primary motivation and attitude of most surgeons. Despite the commendable goal of…
Neurodegenerative Diseases
Neurodegenerative diseases (NDs) encompass an array of distinct illnesses with unique clinical manifestations, management strategies, and disease courses. Three specific diseases have been chosen for this chapter in an effort…
