The crisis of US hospice care : family and freedom at the end of life /

Braswell, Harold, 1981-

The crisis of US hospice care : family and freedom at the end of life / Harold Braswell. - 1 online resource

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Beyond the right to die -- Depending on the family -- Birth of a crisis -- What happens to dying people when love is not enough -- Caring across the American political divide -- When the end of life begins -- Conclusion -- Afterword: How my mother died.

"Hospice is the dominant form of end-of-life care in the United States. But while the US hospice system provides many forms of treatment that are beneficial to dying people and their families, it does not encompass what is commonly referred to as long-term care, which includes help with the activities of daily living: feeding, bathing, general safety, and routine hygienic maintenance. Frequently, such care is carried out by an informal network of unpaid caregivers, such as the person's family or loved ones, who are often ill-prepared to offer this type of support. In The Crisis of US Hospice Care, Harold Braswell argues that the stress of providing long-term care typically overwhelms family members and that overdependence on familial caregiving constitutes a crisis of US hospice care that limits the freedom of dying people. Arguing for the need to focus on the time just before death, Braswell examines how the relationship of hospice to familial caregiving evolved. He traces the history of hospice over the past fifty years and describes the choice that people dying with inadequate familial support face between a neglectful home environment and an impersonal nursing home. A nuanced look at the personal and political dimensions that shape long-term, end-of-life care, this historical and ethnographic study demonstrates that the crisis in US hospice care can be alleviated only by establishing the centrality of hospice to American freedom. Providing a model for the transformative work that is required going forward, The Crisis of US Hospice Care illustrates the potential of hospice for facilitating a new way of living our last days and for having the best death possible."--Google Books viewed Apr. 26, 2021.

9781421429830 (electronic book) 1421429837 (electronic book)


Hospice care--United States.
Hospice care--Moral and ethical aspects--United States.
Palliative treatment--United States.
Hospice care--History.
Right to die.
Hospice Care--ethics
Hospice Care--history
Right to Die
History, 20th Century
Soins en phase terminale--États-Unis.
Soins en phase terminale--Aspect moral--États-Unis.
Soins palliatifs--États-Unis.
Soins en phase terminale--Histoire.
Droit à la mort.
Médecine--Histoire--20e siècle.
Palliative treatment.
Hospice care--Moral and ethical aspects.
Hospice care.
Right to die.


United States.


Electronic books.
Electronic books.
History.

R726 / .B73 2019 R726 / .B7483 2019

179.7

2020 A-082 WB 310

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