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Care Near the End of Life

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Geriatric Medicine

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Abstract

In few areas of health care are people’s evaluations of their experiences so varied and uniquely personal as in their assessments of the nature and value of the processes that are associated with dying. For some people, every moment of life is of inestimable value; for others, life without some desired level of mental or physical ability is worthless or burdensome. A moderate degree of suffering may be an important means of personal growth and religious experience to one person, but may be only frightening or despicable to another. Helping patients whose very definitions of what counts as health and disease are so varied requires the utmost sensitivity and wisdom of health care professionals.

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Authors
  1. D. Joanne Lynn M.D.
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geriatrics, Mt. Sinai Medical Center, 1 Gustave Levy Place, New York, New York, 10029, USA

    Christine K. Cassel M.D.

  2. Section of Geriatric Medicine, Veterans Administration Medical Center, Portland, Oregon, 97201, USA

    John Richard Walsh M.D.

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© 1984 Springer-Verlag New York, Inc.

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Lynn, D.J. (1984). Care Near the End of Life. In: Cassel, C.K., Walsh, J.R. (eds) Geriatric Medicine. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-5232-0_23

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-5232-0_23

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-9749-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4612-5232-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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