Book and Essays

Dr. Zitter utilizes the power of story in her memoir and essays to point out what’s broken in American healthcare and envision a better path forward.

Screen Shot 2021-12-23 at 11.24.24 AM.png
Screen Shot 2021-12-23 at 11.27.03 AM.png
Screen Shot 2021-12-23 at 11.28.11 AM.png
emnotated.jpg

EXTREME MEASURES:

FINDING A BETTER PATH TO THE END OF LIFE

Extreme Measures charts Dr. Zitter’s journey from wanting to be one kind of hero to becoming another—a doctor who prioritizes the patient’s values and preferences in an environment where the default choice is the extreme use of technology. In our current medical culture, the old and the ill are put on what she terms the End-of-Life conveyor belt. They are intubated, catheterized, and even shelved away in care facilities to suffer their final days alone, confused, and often in pain. In her work Dr. Zitter has learned what patients fear more than death itself: the prospect of dying badly. She builds bridges between patients and caregivers, formulates plans to allay patients’ pain and anxiety, and enlists the support of loved ones so that life can end well, even beautifully.

Purchase here

What People Are Saying

“Part memoir, part exposé, this book is an insider’s view of intensive care in America and its impact on how we die. A clarion call for end-of-life care that aligns with what each patient values most.”

— Lucy Kalanithi, MD, co-author of When Breath Becomes Air

“Like Atul Gawande's Being Mortal, Zitter's book shows how knowing when do to nothing is as vital to being a good doctor as knowing when do to everything.”

— New York Times Book Review

Selected Essays