Recognized as the father of palliative care in North America, Balfour
Mount facilitated a sea change in medical practice by foregrounding
concern for the whole person facing incurable illness. In this intimate
and far-reaching memoir, Mount leads the reader through the formative
moments and milestones of his personal and professional life as they
intersected with the history of medical treatment over the last fifty
years. Mount's lifelong pursuit of understanding the needs of dying
patients began during his training as a surgical oncologist at
Montreal's Royal Victoria Hospital in the 1960s. He established the
first comprehensive clinical program for end-of-life care in a teaching
hospital in 1975 at McGill University's Royal Victoria Hospital, thus
leading the charge for palliative medicine as a new specialty. His
journey included collaboration with two storied healthcare innovators,
British hospice pioneer Dame Cicely Saunders and American psychiatrist
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, leading to a more fulsome understanding of the
physical, psychosocial, and existential or spiritual needs of patients,
their families, and their caregivers in the health care setting. This
compelling narrative documents how the 'Royal Vic' team became
internationally recognized as effective advocates of quality of life at
the crossroad between life and death. From meetings with Viktor Frankl,
the Dalai Lama and other teachers, to a memorable telephone chat with
Mother Teresa, Mount recalls with appreciation, humour and humility, the
places and people that helped to shed light on this universal human
experience.
