The mission of this book is to describe the complexities of communication during advanced, serious illness and at the end of life and to posit palliative care, or medical care designed to comfort rather than to cure patients, as an antidote to the way in which most Americans are treated by the medical system at the most vulnerable juncture of their lives. We challenge the current, predominantly biomedical model that informs much of the communicaton between seriously ill or dying patients and their physicians, caregivers, and families and advocate instead the communication of palliative care - a patient-centered approach to care that recognizes and seeks to lessen patients' suffering - and the many types of pain they may experience (physical, psychological, social and spiritual) during life-threatening illness. | Communication as Comfort by Sandra L. Ragan, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters