In this week's episode you will learn about: 

⦾ Palliative care and the quality it brings to end of life

⦾ Conversing about end of life wishes with loved ones

⦾ Reframing and embracing death as a part of life

⦾ How modern medical practitioners can meet the needs of patients and caregivers

Rev. Dr. Herbert A. Anderson is the author or co-author of over 90 articles and 13 books on topics such as death and grief, family living, ritual and narrative, empathy, leaving home and living alone, men’s spirituality, suicide, outpatient care, hospitality, and sense and nonsense in the wisdom of Dr. Seuss. He last taught at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkeley and continues as a member of the Core Doctoral Faculty of the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley as a Research Professor of Practical Theology and is Professor Emeritus of Pastoral Theology at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago where he taught for 15 years. His most recent book was co-authored with Karen Speerstra and is entitled The Divine Art of Dying: How to Live Well While Dying. Herbert is retired and living in Sonoma, California.

Book: The Divine Art of Dying: How to Live Well While Dying

Jessica Nutik Zitter, M.D., MPH, is an expert on the medical experience of death and dying. She attended Stanford University and Case Western Reserve Medical School and completed her residency in internal medicine at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. She was a fellow in pulmonary and critical care medicine at the University of California San Francisco. Zitter is double-boarded in the two specialties of pulmonary/critical care medicine and palliative care medicine—a rare combination. She writes for The New York Times, The Huffington Post, Pacific Standard, The Atlantic, and Journal of Palliative Medicine, and is featured in Extremis, an award-winning documentary about end-of-life decision-making in an ICU.

Book: Extreme Measures: Finding a Better Path to the End of Life