Lessons From End of Life Stories from the Bedside

This is a difficult topic for Toula. I expect it is for you, too.Death is a natural and important part of our life cycle, yet end of life care is often misunderstood and ignored. In fact, one in three Medicare dollars is spent on people who are in their last 6 months of life.On this podcast, Toula talks with Dr. Sebastian Sepulveda, author of a new book, "At Death’s Door: End of Life Stories from the Bedside".Dr. Sepulveda believes there is a better way to navigate end of life care. He specializes in internal medicine, has 17 years’ experience treating inpatients as a hospitalist. He is passionate about end of life care and helping patients and families to deal with dying. . In his book, "At Death's Door: End of Life Stories from the Bedside”, Dr. Sepulveda shares his firsthand accounts of working with dying patients, exposing a profound lack of acceptance of death even under the most obvious circumstances.During the discussion, he talks about practical options available to patients and their families, how to avoid prolonged suffering when your loved one is terminally ill, and how to avoid burnout while taking care of a terminally ill loved oneToula lost her dear father, “Papa Nick” last November. She experienced all of these issues. She still feels the pain of his loss. She shares some of her thoughts with Dr. Sepulveda. We hope that you also will gain some insight and comfort from this podcast.