Physician featured in the Netflix documentary Extremis.
Jessica Nutik Zitter, M.D., MPH, is an expert on the medical experience of death and dying. She attended Stanford University and Case Western Reserve Medical School, and completed her residency in internal medicine at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. She was a fellow in pulmonary and critical care medicine at the University of California San Francisco. Zitter is double-boarded in the two specialties of pulmonary/critical care medicine and palliative care medicine-a rare combination. She writes for The New York Times, The Huffington Post, Pacific Standard, The Atlantic, and Journal of Palliative Medicine, and is featured in Extremis, an award-winning documentary about end-of-life decision-making in an ICU.
"Like Atul Gawande's Being Mortal, Zitter's book shows how knowing
when do to nothing is as vital to being a good doctor as knowing
when do to everything."
—New York Times Book Review
“Jessica here reveals a fuller truth of how the end-of-life plays
out within our healthcare system. There’s nothing easy in these
pages, but plenty to learn from, cautions to absorb, and material
for creating a better way.”
—BJ Miller, MD, Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at
UCSF
"Part memoir, part exposé, this book is an insider's view of
intensive care in America and its impact on how we die, written by
a physician uniquely positioned to examine end-of-life care. Dr.
Jessica Zitter’s wisdom derives from a career whose trajectory –
she specializes in both ICU and palliative medicine – models a
rethinking of care for the dying. Her book is a trenchant
critique and a clarion call for end-of-life care that
aligns with what each patient values most."
—Lucy Kalanithi, MD
"Dr. Zitter has pulled back the curtain on the needless suffering
undergone by the dying in Intensive Care. Honest about her own
uncertainties, mistakes and limitations, she spares no one, not
even herself. The average person will learn much about the pitfalls
of navigating the strange subculture of medicine close to the end
of life.”
—Katy Butler, author of Knocking on Heaven's Door: The Path to a
Better Way of Death and A Good End of Life: a Practical Guide
“America's healthcare system inadvertently makes things worse for
dying patients and their families. This situation calls for Extreme
Measures – and this book is the remedy we need. Dr. Zitter’s
guidance is an elixir of medical sophistication, practical savvy,
and timeless soulfulness. She writes with the clinical
mastery of an intensivist and the personal sensitivity of a trusted
friend.”
—Ira Byock, MD, author of The Best Care Possible
"Required reading for every young medical student and every family
member wondering how to help the people they love live well to the
end."
—Ellen Goodman, founder of The Conversation Project
"With compassion, intelligence, and a rare expertise, Jessica
Zitter shines a light on some of the most difficult issues we face
in our lives."
—Angelo Volandes, MD, author of The Conversation: A Revolutionary
Plan for End-of-Life Care
"You wouldn't take a trip to a foreign country without learning as
much as you could about its rituals, its culture, and its
landscape. The ICU, a place many of us will pass through at least
once in our lives, is as foreign as it gets. Thus Dr. Zitter
provides an essential illumination for her fellow humans."
—Diane E. Meier, MD. Director, Center to Advance Palliative
Care
"A stunning portrait of the ways decisions in the intensive care
unit shape the way we live—and die—now. Whether we live with
illness, love someone who is facing these decisions, or care for
them professionally, Dr. Zitter has written a call to action that
none of us can ignore.”
—Anthony Back MD, author of Mastering Communication with Seriously
Ill Patients: Balancing Honesty with Empathy and Hope
“Extreme Measures provides a gripping and intimate tour of the
experiences and dilemmas physicians, patients and families
face dealing with terminal illness in the modern ICU. A tour
de force for those seeking to better understand and improve care of
patients and families at end of life."
—James Mittelberger MD, MPH, FACP, FAAHPM, Optum Director and Chief
Medical Officer, Center for Palliative Care and Supportive Care
"Clarity and compassion unite in this touching and convincing new
conversation on comfortable, patient-centered end-of-life
care."
—Kirkus Reviews
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