Hospice & Palliative Medicine
- Psychedelics in the medical toolbox?
Given the historical association of psychedelics as “recreational” mind-altering compounds within countercultures of the 1960s and 1970s, their current introduction into several aspects of medical practice is a surprise to many.
- Psychedelics, spirituality, and existential distress in patients at the end of life
The authors explore the role of psychedelics in addressing patients’ spiritual and existential suffering at the end of life from a medical, ethical, and legal perspective.
- Providing comfort: Caring for patients who wish to die in their home country
The authors offer a framework for providing equitable care to terminally ill patients who seek the comfort of dying at home.
- Frequently asked questions about managing cancer pain: An update
Pain management can involve pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic therapies.
- Gastric outlet obstruction: A red flag, potentially manageable
Presume the cause to be a malignant tumor untill proven otherwise.
- Managing malignant pleural effusion
Depending on the circumstances, options are observation, thoracentesis, an indwelling catheter, and chemical pleurodesis.
- A physician’s response to observational studies of opioid prescribing
Not long ago, we were told we needed to do better at relieving pain.
- Severely frail elderly patients do not need lipid-lowering drugs
Statins have no role as primary prevention in this population, and a minor role as secondary prevention.
- Statin therapy in the frail elderly: A nuanced decision
Clinicians—and patients—may reasonably feel there is value in statin therapy—even in advanced frailty.