Wisdom of patients nearing death have informed Chochinov’s decades of research and shaped his clinical approach
(November 24, 2025) — Today, Oxford University Press will release a new book that includes a lifetime of reflections from Dr. Harvey Max Chochinov, one of the world’s leading palliative care researchers, and highlights the ways his research program and clinical approach have been shaped by the wisdom of patients nearing death.
In Search of Dignity explores issues that strike at the heart of what it means to be human, vulnerable and mortal. The reflections are personal, reflective, accessible and will have a general – not just an academic – appeal and resonance.
Essays in thematic chapters address topics such as:
- The meaning of personhood and why being a patient is a hard pill to swallow
- How vulnerability and fragility are woven into the fabric of being human
- The importance of Dignity Therapy and Dignity Conserving Care
- The Platinum Rule: Do unto patients as they would want done unto themselves
- Maintaining self-identity during illness
- The impact of illness on the will to live
- How affirmation shapes dignity
- Places illness cannot touch
- Humility and the practice of medicine
- Understanding depression
- How healthcare providers can affirm a patient’s sense of dignity and personhood
- Vicarious grief and responses to global disasters
- Hope and meaning at the end of life
- Death, dying and dignity
- End-of-life conversations
- In search of a good death
- Dignity, memory and the final wishes of dying children
- Medical assistance in dying (MAID)
- How current health systems fail palliative care – and more.
These moving and topical essays are insightful, and sometimes humorous, in a style that is easily readable for anyone interested in the psychological and spiritual dimensions of medicine.
Dr. Chochinov also outlines a novel program of research and clinical innovations that have helped to shape the field of palliative medicine and person-centered care worldwide.
In Search of Dignity is essential reading, especially for medical students, clinicians, nurses, researchers or those caring for loved ones, but will also have a wider, general audience impact.
More about the author:
Dr. Harvey Max Chochinov is a distinguished professor of psychiatry at the University of Manitoba and a senior scientist at CancerCare Manitoba Research Institute. His research has helped shape the field of palliative care worldwide. He is an Officer in the Order of Canada and an Inductee in the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame.
To receive a digital copy of the book for review, contact:
Marta Moldvai, Oxford University Press: marta.moldvai@oup.com
For media interviews, contact:
Kathleen O’Grady, QUOI Media Group Inc.
kathleen54@rogers.com
613-897-9276
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