Nalini Vadivelu ● Alan David Kaye
Jack M. Berger
Editors
2013
When my mother turned 90 years old, she had moderately advanced Parkinson’s disease, but no other major ailments. Her function was declining gradually, and she began to fall and become a bit forgetful. Her ability to live independently was waning. But her need for palliative care was clear and rapidly growing. It began with a general consideration of her medical goals—she did not want any big medical adventures, so resuscitation and intubation were easily taken off the table. But she still had a lot of things to enjoy in life, so she was willing to have her doctors try to fi x easily treatable problems as long as she had a good chance of returning to an acceptable level of independence.