Kathleen M. Foley, MD
The Global Palliative care community rejoices the decision of the International Association for Study of Pain (IASP) that its John D. Loeser Distinguished Lecture Award goes to Dr Kathleen Foley.
Dr Kathleen Foley is an attending neurologist in the Pain and Palliative Care Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.
In IASP’s words,
the award recognizes work that gives new perspectives to understanding the experiences of pain and that opens the door to future reductions in suffering…
She is professor of Neurology, Neuroscience and Clinical Pharmacology at Weill Medical College of Cornell University, and holds the chair of the Society of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Pain Research. All that is how she is described in IASP’s newsletter. Let us provide our own six-word description of Kathy Foley:
She knows. She understands. She cares!
Congratulations, Kathy, and thank you for all that you are doing for this world.
Watch Dr Foley’s lecture “Pain and Palliative Care: What the Future Holds” given in 2008 at the UCSD Cancer Centre:
“Nationally recognized expert, Kathleen M. Foley, MD, talks about the assessment and treatment of pain in cancer patients, as well as developing policies for pain and palliative care worldwide.”
Please watch this earlier Special Comment from Keith Olbermann on MSNBC.
Conveying powerful messages about untreated pain and about end-of-life decisions. Very very powerful.
Of course it is all about USA.
So when you have finished watching it, please give yourself a minute to think about 80% of the world – the developing world.
What sort of torture goes on there?
The ugly face of politics twists and distorts issues. In the current American controversy, palliative care seems to be (deliberately?) confused with euthanasia.
Thank Heavens there are some clear headed people. Please see the touching video featuring Keith Olbermann on US TV, you cannot afford to miss it!
A Special Comment From My Father
I’m focusing on one thing in tonight’s Comment. The night my father asked me to stop his treatment. All Americans should be able to make medical decisions free of worry about cost…
This is not the central fact around which tomorrow’s health care summit at Blair House will, or should, revolve. But I’d like it on the record somewhere that I asked all those going there, including the President, to think more about people like my father – patients, in our hospitals, at this moment – and less about elections and political points and “crashing the party.” – Read the full transcript here…
Watch another Special Comment: “Respecting pain and patient”
Applications are invited for the Pallcare India project from cancer centres, Government or Charitable Medical Colleges in India without well-established palliative care service and desirous of developing it according to the recommendations of the World Health Organization.
Pallcare India is a Pallium India project supported by:
- Savitri Waney Trust
- Farida and Yusuf Hamied Foundation
- Bruce Davis Trust
APPLICATION DEADLINE: 15 30 MARCH 2010
Read the proposal & apply online…
From our friend and supporter Meera Mohan:
Living Is In Loving…
The sun rises brisk and bright,
Gilding the world with his light;
But,wait-
Its still a gloomy night
For those with not a hope in sight…Eyes blinded by unshed tears,
Lips frozen by unspoken fears,
Hearts broken by unfulfilled dreams,
Life splitting apart at the seams…Beaten, battered and broken,
By life betrayed and forsaken,
They know not what to do,
They know not whom to turn to…When we strut along so tall and straight,
Do we ever think of those felled by fate?
As we celebrate and sing a merry song,
Do we see those who can’t even hum along?Is life about living in an ivory mansion?
And being the epicentre of fickle attraction?
Or is it about riding in fancy cars?
And being decorated with spurious stars?How long does it last:the music of empty applause?
Its time to leave the rat-race and for a moment pause…But wait-
I do see a silver lining,
Behind those dark clouds gently shining,
Hearts that beat with love and care,
Hands that reach out to comfort and share,
A warm smile, a tender touch,
To those bereft, it means so much.YOU who look at another as your own,
So, they no longer feel abandoned and alone;
YOU who with love ignite a spark
In lives gone cold and empty and stark;
YOU who so dauntlessly strive
To lessen the pain and help survive
Those floundering to reach the shore
Or those waiting at death’s door…On this Valentine’s Day,
I do sincerely pray
That all the tears YOU’ve wiped away
Will become guardian angels to protect YOU
And, help YOU in your mission, all your life through!
We thank Alpheusmedia, The Lance Armstrong Foundation, Anne Nagelkirk and colleagues for a precious Christmas present! A three-minute video on Pallium India:
Founded by Dr E Divakaran and colleagues, the Pain and Palliative Care Society at Trissur has established a successful palliative care institute at Trissur, the city often called the cultural capital of Kerala.
Two of us at Pallium India had an opportunity to attend a refresher course in palliative care for doctors held at the institute and to see first-hand the tremendous progress made by the center.
The course demonstrated the great value of educational opportunities for professionals who go through short training programs and feel the need to update their knowledge.
We congratulate the Trissur team.
This IS sharing…
Please read the following from a doctor who wishes to remain anonymous.
Dear friends at Pallium India, I am happy to say that my daughter is getting married in the week after Christmas.
I have decided to skimp a bit on the festivities, and to send you the amount thus saved. Please find enclosed, a cheque for Rs. 10,000.
I pray that this amount will help in palliating some people‟s suffering and hope that their blessings will enrich my daughter‟s life.
Truly a precious Christmas gift!
Thank you very much doctor!
Several years back, the European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC) had appointed an international panel of palliative care experts to formulate guidelines for palliative sedation.
The task force‟s recommendations were published (de Graeff A, Dean M. J.Palliat.Med.2007 Feb;10(1):67-85) but were not accepted by the EAPC.
Now the board of the EAPC has published not guidelines, but a framework.
You can find the framework (Nathan Cherny and Lukas Radbruch) and an accompanying editorial (Katherine Hauser and Declan Walsh) in Palliative Medicine 2009 23(7).
“Refractory symptoms” are a cause of immense suffering to the patient and family and of considerable stress to professionals and other carers.
Despite the controversy surrounding the issue, palliative sedation does offer an ethical choice to a large number of people.
The concept of evidence-based medicine came like a breath of fresh air to the medical community. It helped, up to a point, to exclude bias and to base decisions on solid science. But perhaps our expectations of it were unrealistic? Plenty of questions have been asked, but they are not taken seriously.
Questions like, who generates evidence? Ninety per cent of scientific medical studies are funded by the pharmaceutical industry.
Does that not automatically exclude studies (and thus evidence) in favour of inexpensive medication?
And not forgetting the recent recommendations that negative results must be published, can we realistically expect implementation of this recommendation?
And finally, in the matter of something as subjective as pain or distress, is it reasonable to rely only on grade 1 evidence?
These are factors that we must consider when evaluating the recent NICE guidelines about management of low back pain.
Read about the controversy in the 2009 autumn issue of British Pain News…
