Sharon R. Kaufman examines the profound influence of American hospitals on the end-of-life experience. Her work delves into how societal norms and institutional structures shape our understanding and perception of death and dying. Through her anthropological lens, she uncovers the complex interplay between medical practice and the deeply personal journey of mortality.
Sharon R. Kaufman examines the quandary of patients, families and doctors not knowing the point where enough medical treatment becomes too much treatment. A hidden chain of drivers among science, industry, new technology, and insurance spur this quandary, serving to obscure the ability to identify the difference between extraordinary and ordinary medicine.
A penetrating examination of how most Americans die today--how the patients and their families' conflicting desires about a good death collide with the politics and routines of American hospitals.