Dr. Eric Cassell, a medical ethicist and author "who urged his fellow doctors to shift priorities beyond curing their patients' diseases to caring for their overall well-being," died on September 24, the New York Times reported. He was 93.
"Eric was, in my mind, the intellectual father of palliative care," said Dr. Susan Block, a professor of psychiatry and medicine at Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Cassell, who lectured widely, was a founding fellow of the Hastings Center on bioethics in Garrison, N.Y., where he and his colleagues concluded in the early 1970s that most people do not dread death as much as they do suffering.
Mildred Z. Solomon, president of the Hastings Center, said that "his insights have been foundational for many developments in medicine, including the origins of the palliative care movement, patient-centered care, and even disability rights."
In his book The Nature of Healing: The Modern Practice of Medicine (2013), Dr. Cassell defined a sick person as one "who cannot achieve his or her purposes and goals because of impairments of functions that are believed to be in the domain of medicine." Such a person, he maintained, must be clearly distinguished from those who are well. His 11 books also include The Healer's Art: A New Perspective on the Doctor-Patient Relationship (1976; revised in 1985) and The Nature of Suffering (1991).
Dr. Cassell said listening to patients and determining how they define their own well-being is vital, and "the spoken language is the most important tool in medicine."