Full Description
Dancing with Broken Bones provides a chilling portrait of what it is like to die while living in urban poverty. Via interviews with patients and their families as well as powerful photographs, the author demonstrates that a complex array of factors shape the experience of dying poor in the inner city: mistrust of physicians; inadequate communication among providers, patients, and families; a sense of alienation within the bureaucratic maze of the public hospital system; and indignities in care. By demystifying the stereotypes surrounding poverty, the book illumiates how faith and an unassailiable spirit provide strength and courage throughout the end of life experience. Dancing with Broken Bones is a rallying call for compassionate individuals everywhere to understand and respond to the needs of the especially vulnerable people who comprise the world of inner-city dying poor.
Contents
1. Crossing the tracks: An introduction; 2. Dying poor: An invisible world; 3. Dying in the public hospital system: Institutional arrangements and provider perspectives; 4. Courage through suffering: Snapshots of the dying poor; 5. Triumph and faith through harsh reality and personal tragedy: Lucille Angel; 6. Life on the brink: Mr and Mrs Wheeler; 7. A conclusion: Conscious listening, mindful presence - a lesson learned
