Seeking alternative treatment realization and acceptance of palliative care

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The speaker initially sought alternative treatment options for the cancer, but his father's abrupt declaration of wanting comfort made him realize the need for palliative care. He struggled with the physician-scientist mindset of fixing the situation and found it challenging to accept the worsening condition.

As a lifeguard, a paramedic, and then an ER doctor, Blair Bigham found his calling: saving lives. But when he started to work in the ICU, he slowly realized that sometimes keeping people (and their hopes) alive just prolongs the suffering. He wrote a book arguing that a too-late death is just as bad as a too-early one, and that physicians and the public alike need to get better at accepting the inevitability of death sooner. As the book hit the bestseller list, Blair’s own father got diagnosed with a deadly case of pancreatic cancer. Blair’s every impulse was in direct contradiction of the book he just wrote. What should he do? And how can any of us know when to stop fighting death and when to start making peace with it?Special thanks to Lucie Howell and Heather Haley.EPISODE CREDITS:

Reported by - Latif NasserProduced by - Simon Adlerwith help from - Alyssa Jeong PerryOriginal music and sound design contributed by - Simon Adlerwith mixing help from - Arianne WackFact-checking by - Natalie Middletonand edited by - Pat Walters

EPISODE CITATIONS:

Books:

Blair Bigham, Death Interrupted: How Modern Medicine is Complicating the Way We Die (https://zpr.io/a33mEMW64X5h)

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