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A social worker for the U.S. Veteran's Administration, Foster was appalled at how dying patients were treated -- a "conspiracy of silence" where doctors didn't tell them what was happening, where families withdrew, and patients were left to die alone. In 1965 she wrote an article for the Journal of the National Association of Social Workers explaining how she was trying to change that standard at the V.A. hospital in Brooklyn, N.Y. She argued that most patients were perfectly capable of understanding their condition. With that, she said, "Patients [are] able to view the doctor more realistically and had less of a need to invest him with magical, omnipotent powers." Her ideas revolutionized hospice care in the U.S. "She was way ahead of her time," said Dr. Susan Gerbino, a professor at the New York University School of Social Work, applying such ideas "long before anybody was talking about patient autonomy and informed consent." Foster died at home on July 4 from cancer. She was 71. From This is True for 9 July 2006 Suggestions for further reading:
 By: Maggie CallananPatricia Kelley List Price: $17.00 Amazon Price: $11.56 Editorial Review: Five years after its first publication, with more than 150,000 copies in print, Final Gifts has become a classic. In this moving and compassionate book, hospice nurses Maggie Callanan and Patricia Kelley share their intimate experiences with patients at the end of life, drawn from more than twenty years experience tending the terminally ill. Through their stories we come to appreciate the near-miraculous ways in which the dying communicate their needs, reveal their feelings, and even choreograph their own final moments; we also discover the gifts—of wisdom, faith, and love—that the dying leave for the living to share. Filled with practical advice on responding to the requests of the dying and helping them prepare emotionally and spiritually for death, Final Gifts shows how we can help the dying person live fully to the very end.  By: Maggie Callanan List Price: $25.00 Amazon Price: $16.50 Editorial Review: For more than two decades, hospice nurse Maggie Callanan has tended to the terminally ill and been a cornerstone of support for their loved ones. Now the coauthor of the classic bestseller Final Gifts passes along the lessons she has learned from the experts—her patients. Here is the guide we all need to understanding the special needs of the dying and those who care for them. In her work with thousands of families, Maggie Callanan has witnessed the tears, the love—and the confusion and conflict—this final passage can evoke. Now, with honesty, compassion, and even humor, she empowers patients and their families to write the last chapter of their lives with less fear, less pain, and more control—so that all involved can focus their energies on creating the best possible ending. From supporting a husband or wife faced with the loss of a spouse, to helping a dying mother prepare her children to carry on without her, Callanan’s poignant stories illustrate new ways to meet the physical, emotional, and spiritual challenges of this difficult and precious time. She brings welcome clarity to medical and ethical concerns, explaining what to expect at every stage. Each brief chapter also conveys a home truth about making crucial treatment decisions, supporting the patient’s dignity and individuality, and lightening the burden on caregivers. Final Journeys is designed to be your companion, resource, and advocate. From diagnosis through the final hours, it will help you keep the lines of communication open, get the help you need, and create the peaceful end we all hope for.  List Price: $15.95 Amazon Price: $10.85 Editorial Review: Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Richard Russo and five other Maine authors here prove the close of life need not be filled with darkness, when hospice help is at hand. These writers recount intensely personal and profoundly moving end-of-life accounts that cover a wide spectrum of human experience. All six authors are donating their royalties to a Maine hospice; Down East will also donate 10 percent of proceeds to the same cause.  By: Eleanor Clift List Price: $26.00 Amazon Price: $17.16 Editorial Review: What has become known as the Schiavo affair-the death of a brain-damaged woman in Florida in 2005, and the controversy that surrounded it-was a revelatory moment in American society. For the first time, the nation got a clear view of both the fanaticism gripping the religious right and the political power it could bring to bear even when the vast majority of the country disagreed with it. But it was also a turning point: a moment when America seemed to glimpse a dangerous radicalism, and began to pull back. Eleanor Clift witnessed this event from a unique vantage point. At the same time that Schiavo was dying in her Florida hospice, Clift’s husband, Tom Brazaitis, was dying of cancer at home; the two passed away within a day of each other. Two Weeks of Life alternates between these two stories to provide a moving commentary on how we deal, or fail to deal, with dying in modern America.  By: Larry BeresfordElisabeth Kubler-Ross List Price: $16.99 Amazon Price: $15.29 Editorial Review: In recent years hospice care has gone from a little-known medical alternative to a major movement in health care that has played a leading role in the lives of over 200,000 people. By emphasizing palliative care and pain management rather than curative treatment, hospices allow the terminally ill to spend the last days, week, or months of their lives in their own homes, cared for by their families under the supervision of a team of specially trained hospice workers that includes doctors, nurses, social workers, and volunteers. The Hospice Handbook assures us that the terminally ill do have options, and the quality of their lives can still be within their control. |
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