A revised edition of the classic report on hospice communities includes information on pain and symptom management, and new material on the hospice community's response to the AIDS crisis

The founder of the St. Christopher's Hospice and of the modern hospice movement, Dame Cicely Saunders' work transformed the management of pain and the care of the dying. This updated biography explores her extraordinary life.

At a time when the end of life has become the subject of anguished medical and ethical debate, no book is more welcome than The Hospice Movement This modern classic outlines a bold and noble alternative to the high-tech nightmare that has all too often been our society's accepted approach to death: hospice instead offers caring communities where dying people are treated as human beings worthy of attention and respect. Widely recognized as the essential reference for all who deal with the terminally ill, the book has now been extensively updated with three new chapters that describe the hospice movement's response to AIDS and its evolution into an international phenomenon. The result is one of those rare works that initiate caregivers, family, and friends into a new understanding of death and dying, one that reconciles the medical, the social, and the spiritual.

What had been intended as a full-fledged alternative to a system of care that seemed best suited to the interests of physicians and hospital staff, not the terminally ill, has for the most part been reduced to a mere extension of that system. Cathy Siebold, a social worker and psychotherapist who has witnessed firsthand the evolution of hospice care since its modern incarnation in the 1960s, presents a balanced and objective analysis of the movement's accomplishments and failings in The Hospice Movement: Easing Death's Pains. Using social movement theory to frame her discussion, Siebold traces the bell curve of growth, maturity, and decline that, to a point, has characterized the hospice movement.

There’s a quiet revolution happening in the way we die. More than 1.5 million Americans a year die in hospice care—nearly 44 percent of all deaths—and a vast industry has sprung up to meet the growing demand. Once viewed as a New Age indulgence, hospice is now a $14 billion business and one of the most successful segments in health care. Changing the Way We Die, by award-winning journalists Fran Smith and Sheila Himmel, is the first book to take a broad, penetrating look at the hospice landscape, through gripping stories of real patients, families, and doctors, as well as the corporate giants that increasingly own the market. Changing the Way We Die is a vital resource for anyone who wants to be prepared to face life’s most challenging and universal event. You will learn: — Hospice use is soaring, yet most people come too late to get the full benefits. — With the age tsunami, it becomes even more critical for families and patients to choose end-of-life care wisely. — Hospice at its best is much more than a way to relieve the suffering of dying. It is a way to live.

Cicely Saunders is universally acclaimed as a pioneer of modern hospice care. Trained initially in nursing and social work, she qualified in medicine in 1958 and subsequently dedicated the whole of her professional life to improving the care of the dying and bereaved people. Founding St Christopher's Hospice in London in 1967, she encouraged a radical new approach to end of life care combining attention to physical, social, emotional and spiritual problems, brilliantly captured in her concept of 'total pain'. Her ideas about clinical care, education and research have been hugely influential, leading to numerous prizes and awards in recognition of her humanitarian achievements. In this book the sociologist and historian David Clark presents a selection of her vast correspondence, together with his own commentary. The letters of Cicely Saunders tell a remarkable story of vision, determination and creativity. They should be read by anyone interested in how we die in the modern world.