2024

Ending Life Well- Four Things to Say When Someone is Dying

Four simple phrases: “Please forgive me,” “I forgive you,” “Thank you,” and “I love you” — carry enormous power to mend and nurture our relationships and inner lives.  In this conversation with Dr. Ira Byock  he explains how we can practice these phrases in our day to day lives and the impact they can have. 
 Dr. Ira Byock is a palliative care physician from the USA and the author of three books - "Dying Well",  "The Best Care Possible" and "The Four Things That Matter Most" the topic he discusses with us today. 
This is an extended length episode [duration: 41 minutes].

 

You're Going To Die - Why Wait

 An interview with Ira Byock hosted by Ned Buskirk on  You're Going To Die - The Podcast recorded April 25, 2024.

 

The Disagreement Podcast - Medical Aid in Dying

An interview with Ira Byock and Kim Callinan on The Disagreement Podcast, Ep 9, May 21, 2024. Host:  Catherine Cushenberry. This episodes explores a wide range of important questions on medical aid in dying.

• How broken is end-of-life care in America? And how should we fix it? 
• What are the potential risks and benefits of implementing medical aid in dying? 
• How should we be thinking about death, dying, and the end-of-life for our loved ones? 

 

2023

The Four Things That Matter Most
An interview with Ira Byock, MD Host: Karen Wyatt, MD End of Life University Podcast, Ep 411, July 10, 2023. Learn about a powerful book that has been helping people heal their relationships at the end of life for almost 20 years.

How to Save Hospice with Ira Byock MD
An interview with Ira Byock, MD Host: Karen Wyatt, MD End of Life University Podcast, Ep 387 January 23, 2023. Learn about some positive steps that are needed to heal the current hospice industry in the U.S. and how your story can make a difference.
We discuss his recent essay opinion piece published in STAT online: “Hospice Care Needs Saving,” which is a response to the November Propublica/New Yorker article How the Visionary Hospice Movement Became a For-Profit Hustle.

 

2022

What Keeps Me Up At Night About Hospice and Palliative Care
An interview with Ira Byock, MD Host: Karen Wyatt, MD End of Life University Podcast, Ep 356 June 20, 2022 Dr. Ira Byock takes an honest and challenging look at worrisome issues within the hospice and palliative care field.

Hear Me Now: A New Day for Psychedelic Research: An Interview with Dr. Bill Richards Dr. Ira Byock and Dr. Bill Richards Hear Me Now Podcast, Providence Institute for Human Caring May 12, 2022 Dr. Bill Richards has been researching the therapeutic uses of psychedelic substances for 60 years and he believes there's a legitimate role for them in the treatment of depression, anxiety, and interpersonal withdrawal. He believes these substances behave in a novel way among psychiatric medications: it's the memory of an experience that's therapeutic and that you carry with you. You don't have to keep taking medication every day to have the effect. You experience something so profound, that it changes your whole concept of who you are.

Lessons on Mortality and Dying Well with Ira Byock The Doctor’s Art, Episode 9 Stanford Medical School May 3, 2022 Dr. Ira Byock is a leading figure in hospice and palliative medicine, having developed many practices and tools that now define the specialty. For him, this profession is a continual pursuit of balancing the scientific and human aspects of medical care, to address patient well-being in a way that transcends conventional concepts of disease and illness. In this episode, Dr. Byock joins us to discuss how palliative medicine developed into what it is today, how viewing death as a normal part of human living can allow patients to create meaning at the end of life, and what all clinicians can learn from palliative care about good doctoring.o keep taking medication every day to have the effect. You experience something so profound, that it changes your whole concept of who you are.

 

2021

An interview with Ira Byock, MD
Surgical Palliative Care podcast, episode #009 Host: Dr. Red Hoffman Feb 17, 2021 For those interested in the history of surgical palliative care, Ira is also known as the man who introduced surgeons Dr. Robert Milch to Dr. Geoffrey Dunn (both men went on to become leaders in the field of surgical palliative care). Ira shares that seeing how poorly patients at the end of life were treated in his training hospital led him to develop a hospice program while still a resident physician. He discusses that illness is fundamentally a personal issue (rather than a medical issue) and that by acknowledging this, surgeons can do their part in making certain that patients get the best care possible. He is thoughtful, inspiring, generous with both his time and his experience, and a pure joy to talk to!

An interview with Ira Byock, MD
Becoming Who You Truly Are with Marlena Fiol Host: Marlena Fiol Jan 27, 2021 Here’s a peek at what you’ll hear from Ira: “Most people believe that the fundamental nature of illness and dying is medical. And I would say that’s where we get things wrong to begin with. Obviously, people who are seriously ill and dying have medical issues that are incredibly important, but the fundamental nature of illness and dying is personal, emotional, social, interpersonal and spiritual.”

 

2020

The Benefits of Psychedelics for End-of-Life Patients
An interview with Ira Byock, MD Host: Karen Wyatt, MD End of Life University Podcast, Ep 273 Nov 17, 2020 Learn about new research using psychedelic medications to help patients at the end of life with depression and anxiety.

Hear Me Now: Grief in the time of COVID 19 Dr. Ira Byock and Rev. Denise Hess Hear Me Now Podcast, Providence Institute for Human Caring Aug 13, 2020 COVID-19 has changed the way we live and the way we die. The pandemic has changed interactions at the bedside, our rituals of mourning, and how we process loss. This Hear Me Now Podcast presents “Grief in the time of COVID,” featuring Dr. Ira Byock, founder and chief medical officer at Providence’s Institute for Human Caring, and Rev. Denise Hess, executive director of the Supportive Care Coalition.

 

2018

What Mortality Can Teach Us About Living

Dr. Ira Byock on "What Mortality Can Teach Us About Living" StudioTulsa ST Medical Monday October 14, 2018

 

2015

The Right to Die Becomes Law in CA
The Diane Rehm Show Oct 6, 2015

What Would You Do If You Were Going To Die Soon? The Joy Cardin Show, WPR Sept 3, 2015

The Latest In The Debate Over "Aid In Dying" The Diane Rehm Show Feb 17, 2015

Ira Byock on KCRW Which Way  L.A.?
Host: Warren Olney Feb 12, 2015

 

2014

New Efforts To Expand Options For Terminally Ill Patients
The Diane Rehm Show Oct 23, 2014

 

2013

Ira Byock Advocates Better Care at the End of Life Think Out Loud Host: Allison Frost Oregon Public Broadcasting, Jan 12, 2013 A transformation is needed in the way our society and culture – not merely our health care system – cares for seriously ill people and supports family.

 

2012

Contemplating Mortality with Ira Byock Interview with Krista TippettOn Being American Public Media, Apr 26, 2012 Dr. Ira Byock is a leading figure in palliative care and hospice in the United States. He says we lose sight of ‘the remarkable value’ of the time of life we call dying. What if we understand death as a developmental stage — like adolescence or mid-life? Dr. Ira Byock is a leading figure in palliative care and hospice in the United States. He says we lose sight of “the remarkable value” of the time of life we call dying if we forget that it’s always a personal and human event, and not just a medical one. From his place on this medical frontier, he shares how we can understand dying as a time of learning, repair, and completion of our lives.

The Best Care Possible – What It Is and How To Get It The Commonwealth Club Mar 29, 2012 As one of the country’s leading palliative-care physicians, Dr. Byock explains why the way we die is among the biggest national health crises facing us today. He describes what palliative care really is and addresses the economic, ethical and systematic challenges of our current health-care system.

'Best Care': We Make Death Harder Than It Has To Be Talk of the Nation Host: Neil Conan NPR, Mar 26, 2012 "We have a disease-treatment system more than a health care system these days," Byock tells NPR's Neal Conan. "That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it's not enough. We have to begin to care well for people who are living with these diseases, not simply the physiology and pathology itself." 

Conversations on End-of-Life Care with Ira Byock Hank Willner, M.D., in conversation with with Ira Byock, MD Hospice Foundation of America, Mar 28, 2012

The Exchange Host: Laura Knoy New Hampshire Public Radio, Mar 20, 2012 Dartmouth physician Ira Byock says even with incredible advances in medicine, far too many Americans suffer needlessly and die “badly”.  In a new book, Byock calls for a new approach toward the end of life; one focused on taking care of persons, not just “bodies”, and helping patients and their families reach decisions about dying.

A New Look At End-of-Life Care Vermont Edition
Host: Jane Linholm Vermont Public Radio, Mar 19, 2012 Doctor Ira Byock argues that we need to seriously shift our political and cultural thinking about end of life care. The Dartmouth-Hitchcock physician is one of the leading thinkers on palliative medicine, and his new book is "The Best Care Possible: A Physician's Quest to Transform End of Life Care."

The Best Care Possible
The Leonard Lopate Show
WNYC, NYC, Mar 19, 2012