Altarum.org

Cheap Political Victories and End of Life Care: A Better End for Anyone?

By: Janice Lynch Schuster

As if just talking about dying weren’t hard enough for most of us, now comes the disinformation campaign about end-of-life care discussions waged by opponents of health care reform. Let’s be clear and set the facts straight for any still confused: The proposed language in some of the draft health reform bills was nothing like the scandalous assertions claimed by those using it to advance a very different agenda. It was not a “death board” (one of the more outrageously absurd assertions made), nor was it intended to create a system ...

“Decent Care” — The Key Values for Health Care Reform?

By: Jesse Milan, Janice Lynch Schuster

A recent World Health Organization (WHO) and Ford Foundation-sponsored Global Consultation on Decent Care Values in Palliative Care Services sought to bring together people living with HIV/AIDS, palliative care experts and specialists, and global health leaders to explore the conceptual alignment between the concepts of decent care and the practice of palliative care. The Consultation aimed to document how the values of decent care resonated with people worldwide and whether those values might influence new approaches to primary care and palliative care. Through its internal research and development program, Altarum Institute ...

A Kennedy’s Final Lesson: Shaping a Good Death in America

By: Janice Lynch Schuster

The day Senator Ted Kennedy announced that he had a malignant brain tumor, I was at a briefing where my colleague and friend, Dr. Joanne Lynn, talked about what we need to do to improve care for people nearing the end of life. Lynn, a geriatrician, researcher, and advocate for better end-of-life care, has been talking about this for more than a decade now, ever since her SUPPORT study demonstrated scientifically what most of us knew intuitively: Dying in a hospital from any sort of disease was a ...