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“We’re Not Ready to Give Up”

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Abstract

In this chapter, we will explore a case involving a 43-year-old woman with metastatic breast cancer and her care. The chapter will prompt discussion and further thought about quality of life, ethics in medicine, justice in healthcare, and healthcare costs. At the conclusion of the case discussion, learners will be able to apply ethical principles to end-of-life care, analyze cost of such care in the US healthcare system, and identify conversational tools to facilitate discussion of palliative care.

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Acknowledgments

This case was adapted from an earlier case written by Amy Caruso Brown and was inspired in part by Atul Gawande’s essay, “What Should Medicine Do When It Can’t Save You?,” published in the New Yorker magazine in August 2010.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Palliative Care and Family Medicine, University of North Texas Health Science Center, John Peter Smith Hospital, Fort Worth, TX, USA

    Anthony Michael Zepeda

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  1. Anthony Michael Zepeda
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Bioethics and Humanities and Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY, USA

    Amy E. Caruso Brown

  2. Departments of Pediatrics and Public Health and Preventive Medicine, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY, USA

    Travis R. Hobart

  3. Department of Interprofessionalism, Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, Roanoke, VA, USA

    Cynthia B. Morrow

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Zepeda, A.M. (2019). “We’re Not Ready to Give Up”. In: Caruso Brown, A., Hobart, T., Morrow, C. (eds) Bioethics, Public Health, and the Social Sciences for the Medical Professions. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03544-0_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03544-0_14

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-03543-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-03544-0

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