Intercom

Evidence suggests the use of palliative care and hospice services improves the quality of life of seriously ill patients and families, in cost-effective ways. However, the National Hospice and Palliative Care Association (NHPCO) documents persistent racial and ethnically based disparities in hospice use between blacks and whites; 8.4% of all hospice patients identified as Black or African compared to 80.9% white or Caucasian in 2013. This difference in hospice utilization is even more striking given that African-Americans have excessive mortality from almost all causes of death, including hospice appropriate illnesses. Disparities in hospice utilization include gaps in knowledge about the goals and objectives of palliative and hospice care, different cultural and religious values and preferences of many African-Americans compared to whites that shape end-of-life decision-making, and tensions concerning how to integrate concerns for social justice in health care with an agenda to embrace palliative and hospice care. This lecture will discuss these factors and provide ideas for moving forward in providing greater access to palliative care by Africa-Americans and other communities of color.

Richard Payne, MD, is a neurologist and palliative medicine physician. Since 2004, he has been on the faculty of Duke University, and is the Esther Colliflower Professor of Medicine and Divinity. He also has a part time appointment at the Center for Practical Bioethics in Kansas City, Missouri where he is the John B. Francis Chair in Bioethics. At the Duke Medical Center he is as a Faculty Associate of the Trent Center in Bioethics and a member of the Duke Cancer Center. At the Duke Divinity School, Dr. Payne was Director of the Duke Institute for Care at the End of Life (2004-2012) and is currently a member of the Ministry Division and the Initiative in Medicine, Theology and Culture. He teaches courses in pastoral care in health ministry and end-of-life at Duke.  He is the former Chief of the Pain and Symptom Management Section, Dept. Neurology at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center (1992-1998), and the former Chief, Pain and Palliative Care Service, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (1998-2004). He has more than 300 publications in neurology, pain and palliative care and bioethics. He is a past president of the American Pain Society (2003), and past board chair of the National Coalition of Cancer Survivors.

This event is free and open to the public. No registration is required.

Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations should contact Teri Reinemann at treinemann@ithaca.edu or (607) 274-1607. We ask that requests for accommodations be made as soon as possible.

Topic: Archive