The option of palliative care
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Hour 2
Many patients with serious illness and their families struggle with making end-of life decisions. Is there etiquette for discussing the ethics of breaking bad news to family members? What are the ethical guidelines doctors must consider when giving advice to their terminally ill patients? How do we improve alleviating the stress, pain and symptoms of incurable disease? Our guest, DR. MICHAEL LEVY, doesn’t say, “There is nothing more we can do” in his work in palliative care. He is the Vice-Chair of the Department of Medical Oncology at the Fox Chase Cancer Center, counseling patients about their wishes and guides them with supportive care options. Writer DEBRA NUSSBAUM will also join us to talk about the choice of her 84 year-old mother, on the return of uterine cancer, to forgo chemotherapy and radiation treatments, which Debra described in an Philadelphia Inquirer op-ed this summer.
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[audio: 110112_110630.mp3]
Photo by Flickr user Anique
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