Much is being made of palliative care these days, especially in the doctor-assisted suicide debate.  Prominent palliative care specialists such as Ira Byock and former assisted-suicide advocate Diane Meier  strongly oppose such…

I received an early morning phone call from my aunt. “Your mother is very upset. She doesn’t know what to do. You need to stop pressuring her about treatment. Dick…

The healthcare system has a very distinct line separating hospital care from outpatient care. Hospitals are expensive and so they are the main target of cost containment.  Here is where…

Dick would commonly be thought of as my stepfather because he married my mother, but since they have only been married for nine years I consider him my mother’s husband.…