Overview

Here is a book that addresses the role of psychiatry in dealing with a major, controversial topic in American medicine today - treatment decisions at the end of life. It acknowledges and explores the role psychiatrists can play as advisers to the terminally ill and their loved ones, and describes the wide range of emotional and psychiatric issues faced by the patient, family and physician that affect choices patients make to limit treatment or seek physician assistance in dying. A distinguished group of contributors, all of whom have extensive experience dealing with end-of-life issues in clinical practice, address topics that may not have been considered previously. From dealing with issues of terminal illnesses in children, to making difficult treatment decisions for patients with AIDS; from judging the competency of clinically depressed patients for making sound decisions, to understanding the influence of family dynamics, economic forces and language differences on doctor-patient communication - the book uses specific case studies and data to explore the role of professionals in end-of-life decisions. ""End-of-Life Decisions"" strikes a careful balance between the need for patient autonomy and the challenge to make well-formulated treatment decisions. This book sets out to heighten modern medicine's and society's consciousness concerning the difficult challenges faced by patients and their families when making end-of-life decisions.

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9780880487566

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Reviews

This book is a good introduction for the psychiatrist who wishes to work with terminally ill patients in a palliative care setting, but who has not had significant clinical experience working with this special population. -- Doody's Health Sciences Book Review Journal

This book is a good introduction for the psychiatrist who wishes to work with terminally ill patients in a palliative care setting, but who has not had significant clinical experience working with this special population. Doody's Health Sciences Book Review Journal

This book is a good introduction for the psychiatrist who wishes to work with terminally ill patients in a palliative care setting, but who has not had significant clinical experience working with this special population. - Doody's Health Sciences Book Review Journal

Author Information

Maurice D. Steinberg, M.D., is Consultation-Liaison Psychiatrist, Associate Director of the C-L Psychiatry Service, and Director of Fellowship Programs in C-L Psychiatry at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center. He has been the Chairman of the APA�s subcommittee on Psychiatric Aspects of Life Sustaining Technology since its inception in 1992 , and Chairman of the Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine�s Task Force on Bioethics and the Role of the Psychiatrist, since 1993. He was a member of the APA�s committee on C-L Psychiatry and Primary Care Education from 1989 to 1995. Dr. Steinberg has chaired or presented papers at numerous symposia of the APA, the Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine, and the American Psychosomatic Society on issues of limiting medical treatment, physician-assisted suicide and bioethics, as well as teaching psychiatry to primary care physicians. Stuart J. Youngner, M.D., is Professor of Medicine, Psychiatry, and Biomedical Ethics at Case Western Reserve University and Director of the Clinical Ethics Progam at University Hospitals of Cleveland. Dr. Youngner has had a long interest in the interface between psychiatry and ethics in end-of-life care and has written and spoken widely on topics including: DNR decisions, clinical ethics consultation, advance directives, definitions of death, and ethical issues in organ retrieval and transplantation. He served as President on the Society for Bioethics Consultation from 1994-1997 and serves on the Board of Directors of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities. Dr. Youngner is currently conducting research on end-of-life decisions in Cuba where he holds an appointment as Adjunct Professor at the Institute of Advance Medical Sciences in Havana.

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