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For Release: February 24, 2004
Contact: DMS Communications(603) 650-1492
Print Version
NOTED PALLIATIVE CARE EXPERT TO GIVE
ANNUAL HEALTH CARE POLICY LECTURE:
Ira Byock, MD, to Speak on "Dying in America: Crisis and Opportunity"
HANOVER, NH--Dr. Ira Byock, recently named Director of Palliative Medicine at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, will present this year's Harry and Carolyn Bird Lecture in Health Care Policy on Monday, March 8, at 5 p.m. at the medical center. The lecture is free and open to the public.
Byock is internationally recognized as an authority in Palliative Medicine and end-of-life care. In addition to publishing several books on the subject, he is the director of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's national "Promoting Excellence in End-of-Life Care" program. A forthcoming book, "The Four Things That Matter Most: A Book About Living," will be released by Simon and Schuster in March.
A longtime advocate on behalf of seriously ill people and their families, Byock co-founded the Life's End Institute, a community-based organization in Missoula, Montana working to improve end-of-life experience. In December, he joined the staffs at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and Dartmouth Medical School in order to pursue his vision of a patient-care model that fully integrates palliative medicine with all other aspects of a treatment and care plan.
Byock's lecture will focus on "Dying in America: Crisis and Opportunity." According to Byock, "A true public health crisis exists in the way Americans are cared for as they die. Study after study documents that medical care for people who are dying is poorly planned and frequently discounts the values and preferences of patients and families. Suffering among dying Americans is all-too-common, and so much of it is unnecessary."
"The fundamental nature of dying is not medical; it's personal. There's a lot of interest these days around patient-centered care,'" he said. "This medical center is striving to provide a living example of what that means. It's evidence of remarkable leadership. There exists here a real sense that what we're doing is treating the whole person and not just their specific disease. It's what should be happening all over the country but Dartmouth is leading the way."
Byock will discuss the opportunity that we as a society and each of us as individuals have to gain by integrating the process of dying into the process of living. "Unlike other national crises, such as poverty, environmental pollution and urban violence, the crisis that surrounds the way we die in America can be solved, in our lifetimes. We are fortunate to live in this region where we have a remarkable opportunity to contribute to positive health system change and, more importantly, to healthy social and cultural transformation. We can explore what health and wellness look like for individuals and families through the very end of life."
The Bird Lecture will be held in Auditoria E-F at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and followed by a reception. For more information, call Lisa Wirth at (603) 650-6177.
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