Center for Policy Research
Report
Palliative Care and the Health Care Crisis in the United States: A Candid Conversation With Dr. Diane Meier
Diane E. Meier
February 2013
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Introduction
This paper is a synthesis of the 2012 Lourie Lecture, framed as a series of questions and responses, and supported by images used in the lecture. The author focuses on the growth of this new field called palliative care and will make the connection that the crisis afflicting healthcare in the United States cannot be addressed without widespread scaling and implementation of palliative care across the system. The author's subject is not end-of-life care, but rather care during serious illness. A serious illness is something a person can live with for many years, such as emphysema, or end-stage renal disease on dialysis, or dementia. Of course, serious illnesses are also progressive and eventually lead to end-of-life, but the authors want to address care for a much broader patient population, not those who are clearly dying and who will qualify for hospice services.
This report is sponsered by The Herbert Lourie Memorial Lecture series, which is jointly sponsored by the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and the Central New York Community Foundation, Inc. and is administered by the Center for Policy Research and The Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and Population Health.
The Center for Policy Research at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University supports policy-relevant research and disseminates knowledge that enables leaders to make informed policy decisions and provide effective solutions to critical challenges in our local region, state, country and across the world.