RT Journal
A1 Barnett MD
T1 From dark night to gentle surrender: On the ethics and spirituality of hospice care
JF JAMA
JO JAMA
YR 2011
FD June 8
VO 305
IS 22
SP 2353
OP 2358
DO 10.1001/jama.2011.796
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.2011.796
AB 
In From Dark Night to Gentle Surrender, Patricia Thompson explores those moments when medicine has seemingly failed. From her years as a hospice nurse and based on the writings of St. John of the Cross, a 16th-century Spanish mystic, Thompson builds a framework for the personal and professional growth she believes is necessary to care for dying patients. The book consists of a preface, introduction, and 6 chapters that guide medical professionals through the “discernment process . . . [needed to] balance between a professionally executed technical task—bolstered by mental application of learned skills—and a sense of when ultimate reliance on such tasks needs to be released” (p 123).