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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
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