BJ Miller

Last updated
BJ Miller
Born
Bruce Miller

Chicago, Illinois, US
OccupationPhysician
Known for TED Talk "What really matters at the end of life"
Notable work End Game

BJ Miller is an American physician, author, and speaker. He is a practicing hospice and palliative medicine physician and is best known for his 2015 TED Talk, "What Really Matters at the End of Life". Miller has been on the teaching faculty at UCSF School of Medicine [1] since 2007. He sees patients and caregivers through his online palliative care service, Mettle Health. [2]

Contents

In film, Miller is the subject of Netflix's Academy Award-nominated short documentary, End Game [3] by veteran directors Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman and executive produced by physician and film producer, Shoshana R. Ungerleider. [4] His book for approaching the end of life, A Beginner’s Guide to the End, was co-authored with Shoshana Berger and published in 2019. Miller has a chapter giving advice in Tim Ferriss' book Tools of Titans .

Miller formerly served as Executive Director of San Francisco’s Zen Hospice Project, now the Zen Caregiving Project

Personal life

Miller is a triple amputee, a result of climbing on top of a parked train, his watch arcing to the power overhead, and getting electrocuted in 1990 when he was a student at Princeton. [5]

Related Research Articles

Palliative care is an interdisciplinary medical caregiving approach aimed at optimizing quality of life and mitigating suffering among people with serious, complex, and often terminal illnesses. Within the published literature, many definitions of palliative care exist. The World Health Organization (WHO) describes palliative care as "an approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families facing the problems associated with life-threatening illness, through the prevention and relief of suffering by means of early identification and impeccable assessment and treatment of pain and other problems, physical, psychosocial, and spiritual". In the past, palliative care was a disease specific approach, but today the WHO takes a broader patient-centered approach that suggests that the principles of palliative care should be applied as early as possible to any chronic and ultimately fatal illness. This shift was important because if a disease-oriented approach is followed, the needs and preferences of the patient are not fully met and aspects of care, such as pain, quality of life, and social support, as well as spiritual and emotional needs, fail to be addressed. Rather, a patient-centered model prioritizes relief of suffering and tailors care to increase the quality of life for terminally ill patients.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thanatology</span> Scientific study of death and its aspects

Thanatology is the scientific study of death and the losses brought about as a result. It investigates the mechanisms and forensic aspects of death, such as bodily changes that accompany death and the postmortem period, as well as wider psychological and social aspects related to death. It is primarily an interdisciplinary study offered as a course of study at numerous colleges and universities.

In medicine, specifically in end-of-life care, palliative sedation is the palliative practice of relieving distress in a terminally ill person in the last hours or days of a dying person's life, usually by means of a continuous intravenous or subcutaneous infusion of a sedative drug, or by means of a specialized catheter designed to provide comfortable and discreet administration of ongoing medications via the rectal route.

Terminal illness or end-stage disease is a disease that cannot be cured or adequately treated and is expected to result in the death of the patient. This term is more commonly used for progressive diseases such as cancer, dementia or advanced heart disease than for injury. In popular use, it indicates a disease that will progress until death with near absolute certainty, regardless of treatment. A patient who has such an illness may be referred to as a terminal patient, terminally ill or simply as being terminal. There is no standardized life expectancy for a patient to be considered terminal, although it is generally months or less. Life expectancy for terminal patients is a rough estimate given by the physician based on previous data and does not always reflect true longevity. An illness which is lifelong but not fatal is a chronic condition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cicely Saunders</span> English nurse, social worker, physician and writer

Dame Cicely Mary Strode Saunders was an English nurse, social worker, physician and writer. She is noted for her work in terminal care research and her role in the birth of the hospice movement, emphasising the importance of palliative care in modern medicine, and opposing the legalisation of voluntary euthanasia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Francisco Zen Center</span> Network of affiliated Sōtō Zen practice centers

San Francisco Zen Center (SFZC), is a network of affiliated Sōtō Zen practice and retreat centers in the San Francisco Bay area, comprising City Center or Beginner's Mind Temple, Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, and Green Gulch Farm Zen Center. The sangha was incorporated by Shunryu Suzuki Roshi and a group of his American students in 1962. Today SFZC is the largest Sōtō organization in the West.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ira Byock</span> American physician and author

Ira Robert Byock is an American physician, author, and advocate for palliative care. He is founder and chief medical officer of the Providence St. Joseph Health Institute for Human Caring in Torrance, California, and holds appointments as active emeritus professor of medicine and professor of community health and family medicine at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College. He was director of palliative medicine at Dartmouth–Hitchcock Medical Center, from 2003–14, and associate director for patient and family-centered care at the affiliated Norris-Cotton Cancer Center.

End-of-life care (EOLC) refers to health care provided in the time leading up to a person's death. End-of-life care can be provided in the hours, days, or months before a person dies and encompasses care and support for a person's mental and emotional needs, physical comfort, spiritual needs, and practical tasks.

The Liverpool Care Pathway for the Dying Patient (LCP) was a care pathway in the United Kingdom covering palliative care options for patients in the final days or hours of life. It was developed to help doctors and nurses provide quality end-of-life care, to transfer quality end-of-life care from the hospice to hospital setting. The LCP is no longer in routine use after public concerns regarding its nature. Alternative pathways are now in place to ensure patients are able to have dignity in their final hours of life. Hospitals were also provided cash incentives to achieve targets for the number of patients placed on the LCP.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine</span>

The American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM) is a professional organization for physicians specializing in Hospice and Palliative Medicine, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Membership is open to all health care providers committed to improving the care of patients with serious or life-threatening illnesses. AAHPM has more than 5,200 members; 82 percent are physicians, 12 percent are nurses or other health care providers and 6 percent are residents or students.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hospice care in the United States</span>

In the United States, hospice care is a type and philosophy of end-of-life care which focuses on the palliation of a terminally ill patient's symptoms. These symptoms can be physical, emotional, spiritual or social in nature. The concept of hospice as a place to treat the incurably ill has been evolving since the 11th century. Hospice care was introduced to the United States in the 1970s in response to the work of Cicely Saunders in the United Kingdom. This part of health care has expanded as people face a variety of issues with terminal illness. In the United States, it is distinguished by extensive use of volunteers and a greater emphasis on the patient's psychological needs in coming to terms with dying.

Hospice care is a type of health care that focuses on the palliation of a terminally ill patient's pain and symptoms and attending to their emotional and spiritual needs at the end of life. Hospice care prioritizes comfort and quality of life by reducing pain and suffering. Hospice care provides an alternative to therapies focused on life-prolonging measures that may be arduous, likely to cause more symptoms, or are not aligned with a person's goals.

Terminal dehydration is dehydration to the point of death. Some scholars make a distinction between "terminal dehydration" and "termination by dehydration". Courts in the United States generally do not recognize prisoners as having a right to die by voluntary dehydration, since they view it as suicide.

In 2006, hospice and palliative medicine was officially recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties, and is co-sponsored by the American Boards of

Timothy E. Quill is an American physician specialising in palliative care at the University of Rochester Medical Center in Rochester, New York. He is also a board member of the Death with Dignity National Center in Portland, Oregon. Quill was the lead plaintiff in a case that eventually reached the Supreme Court of the United States in 1997, Vacco v. Quill, in which the Court decided that a state law against physician-assisted suicide was constitutional.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">M. R. Rajagopal</span> Indian palliative care physician (born 1947)

M. R. Rajagopal is an Indian palliative care physician (anesthesiologist) and professor referred to as the 'father of palliative care in India' in honour of his significant contribution to the palliative care scene in India.

Life Matters Media is a Chicago-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization offering news, information, education and resources for those involved in end of life decision-making.

<i>Extremis</i> (film) 2016 American film

Extremis is a 2016 American short documentary that follows Dr. Jessica Zitter, an ICU and palliative care specialist who leads a team in the Highland Hospital ICU in Oakland, California. She helps families make end-of-life decisions for their loved ones, who are often terminally ill and or on life support. It is directed and produced by Dan Krauss. It was shot at an intensive care unit at Highland Hospital in Oakland, California. The film was funded, in part, by physician and end of life advocate, Dr. Shoshana R. Ungerleider. There are five patients shown in the documentary; however, it only focuses on three patients.

<i>End Game</i> (2018 film) 2018 short documentary film by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman

End Game is a 2018 American short documentary film by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman about terminally ill patients in a San Francisco hospital meeting medical practitioners seeking to change the perception around life and death. The film was executive produced by Steven Ungerleider and Shoshana R. Ungerleider. It was released by Netflix.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shoshana R. Ungerleider</span> American doctor and journalist

Shoshana Rebecca Ungerleider is an American medical doctor, journalist and film producer. She was educated at The University of Oregon and Oregon Health and Science University. As of June 2021, Ungerleider is the host of the TED Health Podcast, practices internal medicine, runs a non-profit that she founded, End Well, and during the COVID-19 pandemic, contributed regularly as a medical expert on CNN, MSNBC, CBS and Fox News.

References

  1. Mooalem, Jon (3 January 2017). "One Man's Quest to Change the Way We Die". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
  2. Pascal, Susan (2018-03-11). "Pioneering Palliative Care Doctor Offers Patients Realistic and Dignified End of Life Care". MariaShriver.com. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
  3. Gaitan, Daniel (2018-05-29). "End Game' Is The Documentary Film America Needs". Life Matters Media. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
  4. Gaitan, Daniel. "The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has highlighted films on death and dying in recent years". Life Matters Media. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
  5. Mooallem, Jon (3 January 2017). "One Man's Quest to Change the Way We die". The New York Times.