Strategies for Culturally Effective End-of-Life Care

^*This paper was written by LaVera M. Crawley, MD; Patricia A. Marshall, PhD; Bernard Lo, MD; and Barbara A. Koenig, PhD, for the American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine (ACP-ASIM) End-of-Life Care Consensus Panel. Members of the ACP-ASIM End-of-Life Care Consensus Panel were Bernard Lo, MD (Chair); Janet Abrahm, MD; Susan Block, MD; William Breitbart, MD; Ira R. Byock, MD; Kathy Faber-Langendoen, MD; Lloyd W. Kitchens Jr., MD; Paul Lanken, MD; Joanne Lynn, MD; Diane Meier, MD; Timothy E. Quill, MD; George Thibault, MD; and James Tulsky, MD. Primary staff to the Panel were Lois Snyder, JD (Project Director); Jason Karlawish, MD; and David Casarett, MD. This paper was reviewed and approved by the Ethics and Human Rights Committee, although it does not represent official College policy. Members of the Ethics and Human Rights Committee were Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, MD (Chair); Susan Dorr Goold, MD; Joanne Lynn, MD; David A. Fleming, MD; William E. Golden, MD; Jay A. Jacobson, MD; David W. Potts, MD; Daniel P. Sulmasy, OFM, MD, PhD; Vincent Herrin, MD; and Lee J. Dunn Jr., JD, LLM.

Acknowledgments: The authors thank the funding sources for generous support of their work in cultural diversity, end-of-life care, and strengthening the doctor–patient relationship. They also thank the members of the ACP–ASIM End-of-Life Care Consensus Panel and the Annals reviewers for thoughtful and highly valuable comments on multiple drafts of this manuscript.

Grant Support: By the American Foundation for AIDS Research (1772); The Greenwall Foundation; National Institutes of Health (R01 NR029060); Open Society Institute Project on Death in America; the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; State of California Universitywide AIDS Research Program (R95-ST-188); the University of California, San Francisco, AIDS Clinical Research Center; and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Initiative on Strengthening the Doctor–Patient Relationship.

Requests for Single Reprints: Lois Snyder, JD, Center for Ethics and Professionalism, American College of Physicians–American Society of Internal Medicine, 190 N. Independence Mall West, Philadelphia, PA 19106; e-mail, lsnyder@mail.acponline.org.

Current Author Addresses: Drs. Crawley and Koenig: Stanford University Center for Biomedical Ethics, 701 Welch Road, Suite 1105, Palo Alto, CA 94304.

Dr. Marshall: Medical Humanities Program, Loyola University of Chicago, 2160 South First Avenue, Maywood, IL 60025.

Dr. Lo: Program in Medical Ethics, University of California, San Francisco, Room C 126, 521 Parnassus Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94143-0903.