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E-book
Author Livne, Roi, 1978- author.

Title Values at the end of life : the logic of palliative care / Roi Livne
Published Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Press, 2019
©2019

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Description 1 online resource (x, 341 pages) : illustrations
Contents Introduction: The new economy of dying -- The palliative care gaze -- Financial economization -- What the dying want -- Making the dying subject -- Goat taming -- Conclusion: Toward a sociology of economization
Summary America's health care system was built on the principle that life should be prolonged whenever possible, regardless of the costs. This commitment has often meant that patients spend their last days suffering from heroic interventions that extend their life by only weeks or months. Increasingly, this approach to end-of-life care is coming under scrutiny, from a moral as well as a financial perspective. Sociologist Roi Livne documents the rise and effectiveness of hospice and palliative care, and growing acceptance of the idea that a life consumed by suffering may not be worth living. Values at the End of Life combines an in-depth historical analysis with an extensive study conducted in three hospitals, where Livne observed terminally ill patients, their families, and caregivers negotiating treatment. Livne describes the ambivalent, conflicted moments when people articulate and act on their moral intuitions about dying. Interviews with medical staff allowed him to isolate the strategies clinicians use to help families understand their options. As Livne discovered, clinicians are advancing the idea that invasive, expensive hospital procedures often compound a patient's suffering. Affluent, educated families were more readily persuaded by this moral calculus than those of less means. Once defiant of death--or even in denial--many American families and professionals in the health care system are beginning to embrace the notion that less treatment in the end may be better treatment.-- Provided by publisher
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Print version record
Subject Terminal care -- Economic aspects -- United States
Terminal care -- Moral and ethical aspects -- United States
Palliative treatment -- Economic aspects -- United States
Palliative treatment -- Moral and ethical aspects -- United States
Terminal Care -- economics
Terminal Care -- ethics
Palliative Care -- economics
Palliative Care -- ethics
HEALTH & FITNESS -- Diseases -- General.
MEDICAL -- Clinical Medicine.
MEDICAL -- Diseases.
MEDICAL -- Evidence-Based Medicine.
MEDICAL -- Internal Medicine.
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Death & Dying.
Palliative treatment -- Moral and ethical aspects
Terminal care -- Moral and ethical aspects
SUBJECT United States
Subject United States
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9780674239869
0674239865
9780674239876
0674239873