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Edited by A. Blank, S. O’Mahony, and A. Selwyn, 238 pp, $69.95.
New York, NY, Springer, 2007.
ISBN-13 978-0-3877-0874-4.

JAMA. 2007;298:1701-1702.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Singing of the boy in the bubble, musician Paul Simon reminds us that we live in an age of "miracles and wonders." Indeed, we have never had greater power to effectively prevent, diagnose, and treat illness. Medical science has helped more survive cancer than ever before. Organ failure, once fatal, can now be reversed by transplantation. AIDS has been transformed from an acute death sentence to a chronic livable illness. Never before have so many been blessed to grow old. Yet within these success stories one finds the seed of a new problem to be effectively faced—how to plan for, recognize, and provide comfort during the last chapter of life.

Hippocrates suggested that the goals of medicine should include "removal of the distress of the sick" and "the alleviation of the more violent diseases,"¹ and for centuries we have been reminded to "cure sometimes, relieve often, and comfort always."² Unfortunately . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Robert L. Fine, MD, Reviewer
Baylor Health Care System
Dallas, Texas
robertf@baylorhealth.edu

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