Chapters and topics
At Death’s Door includes the following chapters and topics as listed in the Table of Contents.
- INTRODUCTION
- FOREWORD
- The Hospitalist: Doctors Who Provide In-House and End-Of-Life Care
- The Role of the ICU
- The Hospital-Doctor Relationship
- Working with Palliative Care Teams
- When Doctors Disagree
- The DNR/DNI Controversy
- The Types of Cases that Are Most Common in End-of-Life Care
- Respiratory and Pulmonary Diseases
- Cardiovascular Conditions
- Strokes
- Cancer
- Other Facilities and Housing for End-of-Life Care
- Dying at Home
- Who Decides
- PREFACE
- Correcting Common Misconceptions
- How the Medical Sta Responds to Provide End-of-Life Care
- How Doctors and Medical
- Team Members Help Patients and Families
- Explaining Key End-Of-Life Issues
- What Happens in a Cardiac Arrest?
- What Causes a Cardiac Arrest?
- The Low Rate of Surviving a Cardiac Arrest
- When a Cardiac Arrest Is Due to What Happens in the Hospital
- The Eectiveness of Resuscitation Methods
- CHAPTER 1: CLOSE FAMILY, CLEAR MIND
- CHAPTER 2: ALONE AND IN DENIAL
- CHAPTER 3: LAUGHING TILL THE END
- CHAPTER 4: COMPLICATIONS
- CHAPTER 5: KEEPING IT SIMPLE
- The Story of Mrs. Kimball
- The Story of Mrs. O’Donnell
- CHAPTER 6: DEATH IN THE ICU UNIT
- CHAPTER 7: DEALING WITH DEMENTIA
- Explaining What to Do for a Patient with Dementia
- Dealing with a Patient with Dementia
- Who Seemed Normal
- When a Seemingly Normal Patient with Dementia Agrees to an Operation Resulting in Complications
- The Far Reaching Effects of a Dementia Ruling
- CHAPTER 8: FAMILY, CULTURE, AND RELIGION
- Families with Unrealistic Expectations
- Taking Back the Option to Choose From the Family
- Negotiating the Family Triangle to Decide What to Do
- When Religion Affects the Family Decision about Treatment
- When a Death Draws Back an Estranged Family
- When a Family Member’s Personal Situation Aects a Choice
- Who’s in Charge?
- Summing Up – the Problem with Dealing with Families
- CHAPTER 9: A LACK OF UNDERSTANDING
- I Don’t Know What It All Means
- I Don’t Have Enough Information or Have Incomplete Information
- It’s Complicated
- But It’s Not Written Down
- Reassuring the Patient and Family that This Is the Right Thing to Do
- A Case of DenialThe Complications of Technology
- CHAPTER 10: LEGAL CONSIDERATIONS
- Deciding What to Do In Light of Legal Restrictions
- How Much Is Too Much?
- Dealing with Potential Lawsuits When Patients Can’t Decide What to Do
- Dealing with an Emergency
- Dealing with the Assisted Suicide Issue
- CHAPTER 11: A QUESTION OF WHEN
- Determining When a Patient Is Terminal
- When a Hope for Recovery Turns into a Terminal Case
- Deciding When a Progressive Illness Becomes Terminal
- A Nice Lady with Kidney Cancer
- A Patient with Cancer and Diabetes
- It’s an Emergency – and a Change of Heart
- Getting Prepared after a Cancer Diagnosis
- CHAPTER 12: DENIAL, DISAGREEMENT, AND A CHANGE OF HEART
- Denying When the End Is Inevitable
- Another End-of-Life Denial
- The Difficulty of Deciding What to Do
- A Change in Plans
- When the Patient Isn’t Really Terminal – and Doctors Disagree
- How Aggressive Should the Treatment Be?