Medical aid in dying (MAID) is poised to be one of the hottest political health care issues of 2024. As in 2023, more than a dozen states will hold both impassioned hearings in legislative chambers and equally fervent debates in the community. Already,…
Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes! Join R. Lynn Barnett, a patient advocate. We’ll explore the world of caregiving, its challenges, and the profound impact it has on individuals and families. Discover valuable insights…
My grandmother had a beautiful garden that she expanded through years of effort in her terraced backyard. Despite rocky soil and areas of deep shade, her flowers blossomed, and the garden thrived. I do not know if her skills as a gardener were innate o…
I’m writing this in November, which is National Caregiver Month. It’s also Alzheimer’s Awareness Month. But regardless of when you’re reading this, if you’re a caregiver, every month is “caregiver month.” Ironi…
I was the “stranger” at my father’s bedside. Shortly after his 84th birthday, my father fell and landed in the hospital with a split scalp. His metastatic prostate cancer was an incidental finding, and superimposing this wildly invasi…
“I cannot escape death, but at least I can escape the fear of it.” – Epictetus I wish more people knew that quote during the pandemic. I write this on November 1st, celebrated as Dia de Muertos or “Day of the Dead.” Epicte…
Dame Cicely Saunders, the founder of the modern hospice movement and palliative care, famously said, “You matter because you are you, and you matter to the last moment of your life.” This quote has become the central philosophical tenet of …
Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes! Join Thaís Salles Araujo, an internal medicine resident. Discover the potential benefits, challenges, and the need for greater awareness and education in integrating these therapies into mo…
Finishing up a consultation in the ICU, the nurses approached me to see how it went. “Did you get the DNR?” I explained that I enter these conversations without an agenda. My first goal is to develop rapport, reading the room to gauge how f…
An excerpt from The Adventures of Dr. Anonymous. During the COVID pandemic, I wished I could put out a public service announcement for physicians, patients, and families about end-of-life care. Palliative care is critical to hospitalist practice and on…
