Those of us who work in clinical oncology are used to thinking about how to improve care for our dying patients. We may be less familiar with efforts to extend the benefits of palliative care to patients and families facing other kinds of advancing catastrophic illnesses, such as lung, cardiac, and neurologic diseases. In September last year, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies released a report titled Dying in America: improving quality and honoring individual preferences near the end of life.1 This ambitious work encompasses the needs of all patients with potentially lethal illnesses, not just cancer.
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