Mary Ann Walsh discusses two key components of caring for the seriously ill … ” … people have two fears when confronting end of life: pain and isolation. Hospice and palliative care address them both. Advances in medications mean pain can be controlled. Medical staff can handle that. Dealing with fear of isolation lies in […]
a call to community … Read More »
2011 Medconference Oct 21-23 Florham Park NJ transcripts from prior conferences
2011 Medconference … Read More »
Everyone has tried to tame me, tranquilize me, keep me from suffering, and make everything more bearable, to sedate a restless heart that however had no intention to stop desiring and asking for more. Then you arrived … The encounter with you created in me a demand for my whole life, every second,and I don’t want
to sedate a restless heart … Read More »
Throughout my career, I’ve seen how personal conflicts can intensify in emotion when people continue to think the worst about one another. When this happens to me, I begin my campaign to pray for those who are angry at me or who may be trying to harm me. At least three times a day, I ask
Prayer for enemies … Read More »
I discovered this prayer after I had written a philosophical paper, and a colleague who didn’t criticize it or ask questions when I read it publicly later criticized the paper behind my back and tried to damage my reputation. I addressed the criticism in writing, but my anger continued to grow. Every time I opened
Lord, you are the just Judge. You take care of it Read More »
Gawande identifies core values for today’s physicians … “Which brings us to the third skill that you must have but haven’t been taught—the ability to implement at scale, the ability to get colleagues along the entire chain of care functioning like pit crews for patients. There is resistance, sometimes vehement resistance, to the efforts that
humility … and teamwork … pit crews for patients Read More »
If we harm someone intentionally, we need to ask that person for forgiveness. But in trying to clear up harms and possible harms, we often find ourselves powerless. Sometimes, I give advice that I think will be quite fruitful, only to realize at 3:00 in the morning that I might have really blown it. At
Make good come out of whatever harm I might have caused Read More »
When I was in the novitiate, I slipped into the habit of not quite believing that God had forgiven me for my sins. I had a sneaking hunch that He was saying, “I wish I could forgive you, but you have far to go before you are perfect enough to be forgiven.” This was the
Lord, I accept your forgiveness… Read More »
That time of year thou mayst in me behold When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang Upon those boughs which shake against the cold, Bare ruin’d choirs, where late the sweet birds sang. In me thou seest the twilight of such day As after sunset fadeth in the west, Which by and by
… Charles von Gunten’s comments on the recent JAMA article looking at non-profit & for profit hospice characteristics. “The for-profit agencies whose shares are traded publicly on the stock exchanges and report large profits do, in fact, ‘‘cherry pick’’ less expensive patients who live longer … Now that the data are out—everyone in the United States should
