Life Support

Suzanne Gordon is an award-winning journalist. She is Visiting Professor at the University of Maryland School of Nursing and Assistant Adjunct Professor at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Nursing. She is the author of Nursing against the Odds, the coauthor of From Silence to Voice, and the coeditor of The Complexities of Care, all from Cornell. Claire Fagin is Leadership Professor Emerita, Dean Emerita and Interim President Emerita at the University of Pennsylvania.

A beautiful, profound, and profoundly important book.... Gordon's message is simplicity itself: sick people need skilled, humane, and insightful care that keeps their interests paramount. Registered nurses have historically provided that care, but now their ability to fulfill their crucial role faces the greatest jeopardy in the history of the profession.... Life Support belongs in the august company of Silent Spring, The Other America, The Feminine Mystique, and other pivotal works with the power to shape the nation's consciousness.(Washington Post) For patients, physicians, nurses, and health policy analysts, Gordon's passionate and accessible account of the impact of managed care on skilled nursing provides clear grounds for concern.(Health Affairs) In this enlightening, involving, in-depth book, Gordon interweaves the history and philosophy of nursing with on-the-job observations of three nurses at Boston's Beth Israel Hospital. Gordon lets the nurses speak for themselves, effectively illustrating their commitment to their profession and involving readers in real-life dramas.(Publishers Weekly)

• Foreword to the Cornell Edition by Claire M. Fagin, R. N., Ph. D., F.A.A.N.PrefaceCHAPTER 1: The Tapestry of CareCHAPTER 2: Nancy Rumplik - The Care of StrangersCHAPTER 3: Jeannie Chaisson - Not on the ChartsCHAPTER 4: Ellen Kitchen - A Special VisitorCHAPTER 5: Nancy Rumplik - The Meaning of IllnessCHAPTER 6: Jeannie Chaisson - A Mentor of Their OwnCHAPTER 7: Ellen Kitchen - Collaborative CareCHAPTER 8: Nancy Rumplik - A Good Enough DeathCHAPTER 9: Ellen Kitchen - Final CheckupsCHAPTER 10: Jeannie - Chaisson A Good Enough Death IICHAPTER 11: Unraveling the Tapestry of CareCONCLUSION: Preserving the Tapestry of CareAfterword to the Cornell EditionNotesSelected BibliographyIndex