Introduction (Diane E. Meier, Stephen L. Isaacs, and Robert G. Hughes).

Acknowledgments.

Part I Review of the Palliative Care Field: Original Article.

1. The Development, Status, and Future of Palliative Care (Diane E. Meier).

Reprints of Key Articles and Book Chapters.

Part II Care of the Seriously Ill: Why Is It an Important Issue? Approaching Death: Improving Care at the End of Life (Marilyn J. Field and Christine K. Cassel, editors, for the Committee on Care at the End of Life, Institute of Medicine).

3. Decisions Near the End of Life.

Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs, American Medical Association.

Part III Efforts to Cope with Death and Provide Care for the Dying.

4. Hope (Elisabeth Kübler-Ross).

5. The Nature of Suffering and the Goals of Medicine (Eric J. Cassell).

6. The Nature of Suffering and the Goals of Nursing (Betty R. Ferrell and Nessa Coyle).

7. Death: “The Distinguished Thing” (Daniel Callahan).

8. The Philosophy of Terminal Care (Cicely Saunders).

9. Access to Hospice Care: Expanding Boundaries, Overcoming Barriers

(Bruce Jennings, True Ryndes, Carol D’Onofrio, and Mary Ann Baily).

Part IV Social, Legal, and Ethical Issues.

10. The Health Care Proxy and the Living Will (George J. Annas).

11. Terri Schiavo: A Tragedy Compounded (Timothy E. Quill).

Part V Research into End-of-Life Care.

12. A Controlled Trial to Improve Care for Seriously Ill Hospitalized Patients: The Study to Understand Prognoses and Preferences for Outcomes and Risks of Treatments (SUPPORT)

SUPPORT Principal Investigators.

13. Factors Considered Important at the End of Life by Patients, Family, Physicians, and Other Care Providers (Karen E. Steinhauser, Nicholas A. Christakis, Elizabeth C. Clipp, Maya McNeilly, Lauren McIntyre, and James A Tulsky).

14. Use of Hospitals, Physician Visits, and Hospice Care During Last Six Months of Life Among Cohorts Loyal to Highly Respected Hospitals in the United States (John E. Wennberg, Elliott S. Fisher, Thérèse A. Stukel, Jonathan S. Skinner, Sandra M. Sharp, and Kristen K. Bronner).

15. Family Perspectives on End-of-Life Care at the Last Place of Care (Joan M. Teno, Brian R. Clarridge, Virginia Casey, Lisa C. Welch, Terrie Wetle, Renee Shield, and Vincent Mor).

Part VI Palliative Care.

16. The Treatment of Cancer Pain (Kathleen M. Foley).

17. Responding to Intractable Terminal Suffering: The Role of Terminal Sedation and Voluntary Refusal of Food and Fluids (Timothy E. Quill and Ira R. Byock, for the ACP-ASIM End-of-Life Care Consensus Panel).

18. Response to Quill and Byock, “Responding to Intractable Suffering” (Daniel P. Sulmasy, Wayne A. Ury, Judith C. Ahronheim, Mark Siegler, Leon Kass, John Lantos, Robert A. Burt, Kathleen Foley, Richard Payne, Carlos Gomez, Thomas J. Krizek, Edmund D. Pellegrino, and Russell K. Portenoy).

19. Challenges in Palliative Care: Four Clinical Areas That Confront and Challenge Hospice Practitioners (Balfour M. Mount).

20. Outcomes from a National Multispecialty Palliative Care Curriculum Development Project (David E. Weissman, Bruce Ambuel, Charles F. von Gunten, Susan Block, Eric Warm, James Hallenbeck, Robert Milch, Karen Brasel, and Patricia B. Mullan).

21. Negotiating Cross-Cultural Issues at the End of Life: “You Got to Go Where He Lives” (Marjorie Kagawa-Singer and Leslie J. Blackhall).

22. Variability in Access to Hospital Palliative Care in the United States (Benjamin Goldsmith, Jessica Dietrich, Qingling Du, and R. Sean Morrison).

23. Do Palliative Care Consultations Improve Patient Outcomes (David Casarett, Amy Pickard, F. Amos Bailey, Christine Ritchie, Christian Furman, Ken Rosenfeld, Scott Shreve, Zhen Chen, Judy A. Shea)?

24. Cost Savings Associated with U.S. Hospital Palliative Care Consultation Programs (R. Sean Morrison, Joan D. Penrod, J. Brian Cassel, Melissa Caust-Ellenbogen, Ann Litke, Lynn Spragens, Diane E. Meier, for the Pallative Care Leadership Centers' Outcomes Group).

25. The Loneliness of the Long-Term Care Giver (Carol Levine).

26. Understanding Economic and Other Burdens of Terminal Illness: The Experience of Patients and Their Caregivers (Ezekiel J. Emanuel, Diane L. Fairclough, Julia Slutsman, Linda L. Emanuel).

Part VII The Ends of Medicine and Society.

27. Finding Our Way: Perspectives on Care at the Close of Life (Stephen J. McPhee, Michael W. Rabow, Steven Z. Pantilat, Amy J. Markowitz, and Margaret A. Winker).

The Editors.

Name Index.

Subject Index.