Auguries of Innocence: The patient in front of me and one third of eternity
February 17, 2012 | 
Author 
After feeling helpless for a long time ( during patient encounters where we are always pressed for time) , for the past two years I have tried a different strategy with modest success. Instead of fighting against time, I have taken Poet William Blake's counseling to heart Read the rest of this entry »
Happy Valentine’s Day!
JPM wishes our global readers a very happy Valentine’s Day! Read the rest of this entry »
Which arguments are worth having…and which arent
I'd rather not have to think about this, but as my brain tumor patients reach the end of their lives, I frequently have to ask myself this question. "Which arguments are worth having with this family?" Read the rest of this entry »
Why I did a fellowship in Palliative Medicine? : Guest post by Domingo Maynes, MD, Hospice & Medicine Fellow
Life grips you by the shirt collars at the most inopportune moments and my calling to a fellowship in Hospice and Palliative Medicine was a memorable case in point. Only one month into my Internal Medicine residency at Mayo Clinic, I received a phone call from my father that my paternal grandmother had suffered a devastating stroke that her physicians deemed a “terminal case.” I was asked to help make sense of the chaos. Read the rest of this entry »
Language: Be careful in your choice of words!
I recently retweeted a request from @Freshwidow to have people not use the phrase “lost her battle”. The phrase was being used in relation to a woman living with cancer, @whymommy, who had died that day. @Freshwidow went on to say that dying was not about @whymommy’s weakness or failure. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Art of healing, Communication, HIV and AIDS, Social Work | 
Tags: Bereavement | 
7 Comments »
Infinite-Caring Being : by JPM Guest Blogger Virginia Seno, PhD, RN
I’m reminded of the time when my late husband Josh died with a mere 17 days from diagnosis to death. Doctors, nurses, aides and others said and did many harmful things; and I had enormous work to do to get good care. I didn’t need that but that’s what I got. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Art of healing, Caregiver, Family, Humanistic medicine, Reflective practice, Self care, Spirituality | 3 Comments »
A Visit to St. Christopher’s Hospice
I knew that Dame Cecily Saunders had an unusual interprofessional training to begin the work that she did. I did not know until I spent time at St. Christopher’s, however, that she conceived of hospice work as being equal parts practice, research and education. Read the rest of this entry »
Prometheus’ Predicament Part 3 of 3: Happily ever after in hospice
The patient told his doctor that he would likely start binge drinking if left to his own devices in his home and wants to be in the palliative care unit or a nursing home setting. How does one find a nursing home bed for an able bodied (relatively speaking) middle aged person? Read the rest of this entry »
Gen X Family Caregivers
By 2030 there will be 3 seniors for every "kid." And in an age of divorce, the caregiving complexities go up by the square (step-parents, half-siblings, step-siblings...). Nearly half of Boomers have been divorced, so their kids now have 2 households to juggle.
And many men are estranged from their children. In the divorce, "mom kept the kids," physically and emotionally. Read the rest of this entry »
Prometheus’ Predicament Part 2 of 3: Prognostication in ETOH Hepatitis
Key prognostic indicators in ETOH hepatitis include the Maddry Discriminant Function and MELD scores. The DF helps in determining management strategy as well with the DF cut off of 32 ..... read more... Read the rest of this entry »
Prometheus’ Predicament Part 1 of 3: A case of ETOH Hepatitis
A patient in his fifties was brought in by his mother on his birthday for acute detoxification. Patient had been holed up alone in his home binge drinking for many weeks. When mom went to wish him for his birthday, she noticed that he was inebriated, jaundiced and had lost a lot of weight and drove him immediately to the ER Read the rest of this entry »
Cancer Survivorship: Does Palliative Care Have a Role?
How can we best support post-treatment cancer survivors who still report symptoms such as chronic pain and anxiety but no longer have a terminal diagnosis? What is the role of palliative care in this setting? Read the rest of this entry »
My biggest stumbling block
Actually, I have never gotten a palliative care consult from a single cardiologist in my current position. And I keep asking why? I go to the cardiology meetings and talk to the physicians. I see patients in the outpatient CHF clinic when asked. I am even a part of the CHF readmission task force. I put articles in the charts of patients with end stage CHF about the benefits of palliative care on symptoms and caregiver burden. And yet I get nothing. Read the rest of this entry »
American Board of Internal Medicine releases new MOC module on Hospice and Palliative Medicine
We have achieved a huge milestone for palliative care. Earn 10 MOC credits by completing of the new ABIM Hospice and Palliative Medicine Self Evaluation Module! This module consists of 25 multiple choice questions, rationale for the answer choices for each question and a set of references. Read the rest of this entry »
What a year….already!
As I come to the end of a very busy week, I can't help but bit relieved not to be on call this weekend. I am very much looking forward to taking care of some things around the house and for myself. Read the rest of this entry »
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