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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.
Biography & Autobiography / Personal Memoirs
Medical / History
Literary Collections / Indigenous Peoples of the Americas
About this Author
Inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame in 2017, Balfour Mount is Emeritus Professor of Medicine at McGill University and the founder of McGill's biennial International Congresses on Care of the Terminally Ill. An Officer of the Order of Canada, an Officer of the Order of Quebec and recipient of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine "Lifetime Achievement Award." Mount has also received The Herman Feifel Award for Exceptional Achievement in Thanatology from the International Work Group on Death, Dying and Bereavement.
Reviews
"As a rare autobiography with abundant endnotes, Ten Thousand Crossroads will be of interest to both historians and physicians. Readers will take delight in the author's elegant prose and curious asides, which reveal a Renaissance man. This first-hand account of the emergence and development of palliative care will set readers thinking about the sense of well-being and its underlying factors." Canadian Journal of Health History
"Ten Thousand Crossroads is upbeat, full of excitement, fair-minded when dealing with opposing views, highly emotional at times, and very funny at others. Balfour Mount has been the leader in the palliative care movement in Canada and this story of struggle and triumph will interest anyone with questions about general care at end of life." Peter Kopplin, emeritus professor, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto
"Embedded in Balfour Mount's fascinating autobiography is crucial insight into the birth of a medical subspecialty that became a movement in society: the attempt to offer relief from emotional and physical suffering at the end of life." Gregory Fricchione, Harvard Medical School
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