Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: St. Christopher’s Hospice

  • St. Christopher’s Hospice

    Thomas EgnewWashington, United States The twentieth century produced an extraordinary evolution in modern medicine. Burgeoning research and the rigorous application of the biomedical model generated remarkable advances in the diagnosis and treatment of disease.1 Refinements in immunization decreased morbidity and mortality from common infectious diseases and the development of antibiotics provided the means to change…

  • Dame Cicely Saunders and the foundation of the hospice movement

    Julie SilvermanSeattle, Washington, United States “Many doctors nowadays, when the death of their patients becomes imminent, seem to believe that it is quite proper to leave the dying in the care of the nurses and the sorrowing relatives,” lamented Dr. Alfred Worcester in 1935, “This shifting of responsibility is un-pardonable.”1 Then as now, abandoning patients…