The Art of Medicine Near the End of Life

Four Physicians Honored for Exemplary End-of-Life Care
 
Pediatrician and Surgeon Among Inaugural Hastings Center Cunniff-Dixon
Physician Award Recipients
 
(Garrison, NY)  A surgeon and a pediatrician are among the four American physicians who have done exceptional work in end-of-life care and were named today as recipients of the first Hastings Center Cunniff-Dixon Physician Awards. The awards were given by the Cunniff-Dixon Foundation, whose mission is to enrich the doctor-patient relationship at the end of life, in partnership with The Hastings Center, a bioethics research institute known for its pioneering work on end-of-life decision-making. The nomination and selection process was administered by the Duke Institute on Care at the End of Life.
 
The awardees were drawn from a national group of nominees. “The recipients rose to the top of an extremely impressive list of nominees,” said selection committee member Richard Payne, MD, Esther Colliflower Director of the Duke Institute on Care at the End of Life. “The award not only honors the achievements of these fine doctors, but also advances the reach and prestige of the field of palliative and end-of-life care and its power to achieve true holistic, high quality, patient-centered care.”
 
The awards were made in two categories: an established physician category for leadership in end-of-life care and an early-career physician category for serious commitment to the field and contribution through practical research or clinical work.
 
Robert A. Milch, MD, FACS, of The Center for Hospice and Palliative Care, near Buffalo, will receive the established physician award of $50,000. He has been involved with hospice and palliative care for more than 30 years, most of it at Hospice Buffalo, where he initially served as a volunteer medical director. Dr. Milch, a surgeon, was recognized for his longstanding commitment to and excellence in clinical care for patients with advanced illness and for his regional and national leadership in palliative care and surgery.
 
Early-career physician awards of $15,000 each will be given to Elisabeth Potts Dellon, MD, MPH, of the University of North Carolina for her unique set of clinical skills in caring for children and young adults with advanced chronic lung disease; Jeffrey N. Stoneberg, DO, of San Diego Hospice and The Institute for Palliative Medicine, for his outstanding clinical skills and achievements in growing the Scripps Mercy Palliative Medicine Consultation Service; and Eytan Szmuilowicz, MD, of Northwestern Medical Center in Chicago for his devotion to and excellence in patient care, as well as his strong commitment to teaching and research on improving clinician training in end-of-life care.
The prize recipients were selected by a committee convened by The Hastings Center. In addition to Richard Payne, the committee consisted of Eric Cassell, MD, of Weill Medical College of Cornell University and New York Presbyterian Hospital; Thomas P. Duffy, MD, of Yale University; and Kathleen M. Foley, MD, of Cornell University and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
 
The Cunniff-Dixon Foundation was founded in 2005 by Matthew A. Baxter in memory of his wife, Carley Cunniff, who died of breast cancer, and her attending physician, Peter S. Dixon, MD, who has a private practice in Essex, Ct. “He was the guiding light who enabled her to die a peaceful death at home with her family and loved ones,” said Baxter.
 
Speaking of the award recipients, Baxter said, “It is a privilege for us, together with The Hastings Center, to recognize the commitment and contribution that these wonderful physicians are making in end-of-life care.”
 
“We are honored to help recognize physicians for excellence in skilled, compassionate end-of-life care,” said Thomas H. Murray, president of The Hastings Center. “For decades, The Hastings Center has worked for better palliative care and doctor-patient communication at the end of life, and it is gratifying to see how these fine clinicians have made those goals a reality.”
 
The Hastings Center is a nonpartisan bioethics research institution dedicated to bioethics and the public interest since 1969. The Center is a pioneer in collaborative interdisciplinary research and dialogue on the ethical and social impact of advances in health care and the life sciences. The Center draws on a worldwide network of experts to frame and examine issues that inform professional practice, public conversation, and social policy. Learn more about The Hastings Center at: www.thehastingscenter.org

Contact: Michael  Turton
 845-424-4040, ext. 242
 turtonm@thehastingscenter.org

Click to view a photo and brief bio of the prize recipients 

Surgical Palliative Care:  A Residents Guide.

Surgeons will encounter many patients with progressive, incurable, and terminal illnesses in their role as primary physician 
or as a consultant. This manual has been written specifically for surgeons-in-training, regardless of their future sub-specialty 
career choices, to offer guidance for management of the salient problems encountered in palliative care, including advice 
on self-preparation and self-care necessary to execute these tasks competently while minimizing the risk of burn-out.

This book is a revision of Palliative Care: A Resource Guide for Physician Education,4th Edition by David E. Weissman, MD,  
Bruce Ambuel, PhD, and James Hallenbeck, MD (2007). This curriculum has been used extensively for palliative care 
education in more than 400 residency programs, including general surgery, internal medicine, family practice and neurology. 
This current version has been revised specifically to meet the needs of residents in postgraduate surgical training. The selection 
of topics was based upon the experience of the authors in designing educational programs for medical students, postgraduate 
trainees and surgeons-in-practice. The book is not meant to be a comprehensive collection of palliative care teaching resources, 
rather, to highlight the topics of greatest educational need, as identified by surgical educators and surgical trainees.

Thomas R. Russell, Executive Director of the American College of Surgeons, pointed out in an editorial that the culture of 
surgery is changing, evolving along with long held values. He notes, “No longer is it “my” patient, but it is “our” patient.” 
This shared responsibility for the surgical patient is not without peril, though this ethic has a very positive application in 
the interdisciplinary model of palliative care. Although the focus of his remarks was directed at fundamental changes in 
residency training, his comments apply equally to the norms of surgical practice, especially palliative care: “We can start 
by building a sense of mutual respect for the broad range of individuals [including the patient and his family] involved in 
the care of our surgical patients, from nurses to allied health care professionals, from anesthesiologists to environmental 
service workers. As surgeons we must improve our communication and leadership skills, so these individuals will view us 
in a more positive light.” Surgical palliative care is an approach to patient care that can help us meet this challenge.

—Geoffrey P. Dunn, MD, FACS
—David E. Weissman, MD, FACP