From the Dark Night to Gentle Surrender : On the Ethics and Spirituality of Hospice Care

by Thompson, Patricia Kobielus

• ISBN13: 9781589661943
• ISBN10: 158966194X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-01-15
• Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr

Summary

Usually a hospice is where people go to die, and death, for many of them, raises ultimate questions - questions about God and faith, questions about what their life has meant, about what will become of their families, and ethical end-of-life questions. For many it is a difficult time full of doubt, fear, anxiety, depression, and other emotional and spiritual challenges. Patricia Thompson likens that experience to the abyss which the famous mystic St. John of the Cross called the dark night of the soul. Employing the poetry and meditations of St. John, Thompson helps caregivers to recognize and respond to their patients' spiritual and emotional experiences, and to develop their own well-founded ethic and spirituality of care. Drawing on her background as a hospice nurse and her training as a theologian, Thompson delves the writings and life of St. John to find a depth of wisdom that can help those who care for dying patients to do so with grace and inner peace, as they experience what St. John called 'the fire of God's transforming love'. Book jacket.

Author Biography

Patricia Kobielus Thompson spent many years teaching healthcare ethics and moral theology. She is now retired and lives in Meridian, Idaho.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xi
Introduction	p. 1
Hospice Care	p. 3
Origins of Today's Modern Hospice Concept	p. 3
Cicely Saunders and the First Modern Hospice	p. 8
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross	p. 10
The Avoidance of Death	p. 12
The Present Re-Awakening	p. 13
Newer Developments	p. 14
Goals of Hospice Care	p. 15
Principles of Hospice Care	p. 22
The Hospice Code of Ethics	p. 29
Summary	p. 43
Ethical Considerations and Their Development	p. 47
Direction and Focus of These Considerations	p. 47
Convergence of Thought and Development of Focus	p. 48
Aristotle: The Nichomachean Ethics	p. 48
Thomas Aquinas: The Medieval Synthesis	p. 52
Summary of Ancient and Medieval Emphases	p. 56
The Hippocratic Writings: Medicine's Early Documents	p. 57
Philosophical Considerations	p. 59
Immanuel Kant: Deontological or Obligation-Based Theory	p. 60
Utilitarianism and Consequentialism in Retrospect	p. 62
W. D. Ross: Theory of Prima Facie Duties	p. 64
Positive and Negative Rights	p. 66
Mid-Twentiem-Century Growth in Biomedical Ethics	p. 67
The Principles Grounding Modern Bioethical Considerations	p. 69
Autonomy	p. 69
Nonmaleficence	p. 71
Beneficence	p. 72
Justice	p. 73
Covenant Responsibility	p. 75
Virtue Ethics: A Return to the Beginning	p. 79
Summary	p. 84
The Dark Night of the Soul	p. 87
Mysticism	p. 87
John of the Cross: Sixteenth-Century Spanish Mystic	p. 91
Sixteenth-Century Spain: Literature and Milieu	p. 93
The Spanish Inquisition	p. 93
The Spanish Mystics: John's Place	p. 95
Ascent of Mount Carmel and Dark Night of the Soul	p. 96
Dark Night: The Poem and the Purpose of John's Commentaries	p. 97
The Structure of Ascent and Dark Night: Major Emphases	p. 102
The Active Night of Sense	p. 106
The Active Night of Spirit	p. 108
The Passive Night of Sense	p. 111
The Passive Night of Spirit	p. 114
Natural Human Passions-Acceptable or To Be Negated?	p. 116
Does John Negate Our Natural Intellect?	p. 119
Virtue as an Expression of the Contemplative Soul	p. 123
Modern Authors	p. 125
Women, Spirituality, and Health Care	p. 128
Summary	p. 133
Practitioners and the Dark Night	p. 135
Medicine and the Law-Influence over Health Care Practitioners' Decision-Making	p. 135
Personal Practice: Practitioners and the Dark Night	p. 137
One Man's Personal Experience-Spirituality and the Health Care System	p. 141
Delving into Essentials: From Nursing to Priesthood-One Man's Journey	p. 146
Practitioners: Discernment, Honesty, and Virtue-Centered Practice	p. 150
Women's Issues: A Personal Note	p. 150
Hospice, Humility, and a Virtuous Professional Life	p. 151
The Process of Discernment	p. 155
Personal Background and Point of View: Our Responsibility	p. 158
Summary	p. 164
Patients and the Dark Night	p. 167
Acceptance, Letting Go, and Resolution of "Unfinished Business"	p. 168
Theologian and Patient: Meeting of the Mind and Heart	p. 170
Attachment in Our Modern Society	p. 176
Practitioners' Approach to Patients and Families in Light of the Dark Night	p. 180
Additional Thoughts and Synthesis for Practitioners	p. 186
Summary	p. 188
Summary and Conclusions:	p. 191
Contemporary Spirituality for Terminal Illness	p. 191
General Overview	p. 191
The Documents of Vatican Council II	p. 194
The Consistent Ethic of Life	p. 197
Further Reflections on The Consistent Ethic of Life	p. 200
The Pope Speaks	p. 207
Conclusion	p. 210
Notes	p. 213
References Consulted	p. 233
Index	p. 251
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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