The Art of Dying, a Zen Approach

Show #137 | Guest: Dr. BJ Miller is Zen Hospice Project’s Senior Director and Advocate. BJ also serves as Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at UCSF, and is an attending specialist for the Symptom Management Service of the UCSF Helen Diller Comprehensive Cancer Center, one of the country’s very first outpatient palliative care clinics. | Show Summary: BJ Miller summarizes the lessons of his work at UCSF Medical Center’s Zen Hospice Project in two words: “Love matters”. Dr. Miller brings his life experience as a student of art, an amputee, and a Buddhist to his goal of making San Francisco a great place to die. The Project combines spiritual centeredness and palliative care to bring patients, their families, and their caregivers the space to embrace the end of life. While in college BJ Miller lost his legs and part of an arm in an accident. He went on to compete in the Paralympics, study art, and move into medicine, first in rehabilitative care, then finding his calling in hospice work. Angie and BJ will discuss end-of-life issues in all their facets: physical, spiritual, legally, and as a reflection of America’s culture.