Geripal-podcast

One of the things I love about Liz Dzeng’s work is the way in which it draws upon, echoes, and advances our understanding of the influence of culture on the end of life experience.  This field is not new. In his book The Hour of our Death Philip Aries described a long evolution in western civilization of cultural attitudes towards dying.  More recently Sharon Kaufman 's book And a Time to Die described the ways in which physicians, nurses, hospital systems, and payment mechanisms influenced the hour and manner of patient's deaths. Similarly Jessica Zitter, an intensivist and palliative care doctor analogized the inevitable clinical momentum toward highly aggressive intensive care in US hospitals as a conveyor belt. Today Liz Dzeng discusses her journey towards studying this issue in detail. Having trained in different institutions within the United States and in the United Kingdom, and as both a sociologist and a hospitalist physician, Liz brings a unique perspective and set of skills to this issue. On th