Medically reviewed by Timothy J. Legg, PhD, PsyD, Written by Jennifer Thomas and Juli Fraga Source: Healthline "Death, as the old adage goes, is one of only two certainties in life (the second being taxes). But when it comes to what actually kills us, are we really correct in our assumptions? As it turns out, no."(...) Read Full Publication Here [...]
By Andrea Useem Source: The Washington Post "I of all people should know how to do this. As an ICU nurse, I see every day how agonizing it is for families to make end-of-life care decisions for loved ones who have not made their wishes clearly known. I know what I want. I know what the legal options are. [...]
By Rebeca Kuropatwa Source: Next Avenue "Dr. Jessica Zitter, who works as an attending physician at a public hospital in Oakland, Calif., struggled with her job’s protocols for years. Until the day a nurse opened her eyes to the possibility that there was a better way, one that involved more compassion in the treatment of patients."(...) Read Full Publication Here [...]
By Lisa Fields Source: Next Avenue "Before his mother, Dee Dee, died from emphysema in 2009, Larry Sernovitz spent a lot of time at her bedside, keeping her company. Toward the last few days of Dee Dee’s life, she wasn’t very responsive, so her son didn’t expect to connect with her meaningfully anymore. During one of [...]
By Marci A. Landsmann Source: Cancer Today “I think it was the stories that did it,” she writes in her memoir, Extreme Measures: Finding a Better Path to the End of Life, “the ones that celebrated the diagnostic acumen of quick thinkers, the extensive knowledge gleaned from the study of medical texts, and the confidence my forebears inspired [...]
By Carol Polovoy Source: The ASHA Leader Jessica Zitter wants medical teams caring for critically ill patients to learn from Toyota: At the company’s car manufacturing plants, anyone who works on the assembly line can stop the conveyor belt if they sense something is amiss. A pulmonary and critical care physician at Highland Hospital in Oakland, California, Zitter [...]
By Sarah Seltzer Source: Kveller Zitter spoke to Kveller about the way Jewish values influence her practice, how she speaks about death and dying with her kids, and how the movements to change childbirth practices are connected to these emerging approaches toward death.(...) Read Full Publication Here Read Full Publication
By Andrew Leonard Source: San Francisco Magazine “Over 50 percent of Americans die in pain,” Nutik Zitter wrote in Extreme Measures. “Seventy percent die in institutions. And 30 percent of families lose most of their life savings while caring for a dying loved one.” Reading those sentences, written nearly half a century after my grandfather’s warning decrying exactly such [...]
By J. Correspondent Source: The Jewish News of Northern California “Death Cafés” have been popping up around the country as a nonthreatening way for people to share information on a sensitive and often taboo subject. Zitter, a palliative care physician and one of the critical care attending staff at Highland Hospital, started the evening with a story: She [...]
By Logan Jenkins Source: The San Diego Union-Tribune The library is filled with famous last words, but for my money the best parting line was William Saroyan’s, phoned in to the Associated Press days before he died from cancer in 1981. “Everybody has got to die,” the great Fresno writer said, “but I have always believed an exception [...]
