top of page

PORTFOLIO

I write for both academic and general audiences, bridging the gap between clinical practice, research and public understanding. My work has been featured in leading journals, national and international media outlets.

ACADEMIC ARTICLES

2025

Mariah - Lessons in Motherly Love and Perseverance
Byock, JPM July 2025

A Strategic Path Forward
Byock, PalMed Reports June 2025

Successful Strategies for Operationalizing Goals-of-Care Documentation
Gonzales, Byock, et al, NEJM Catalyst May 2025

2023

Core Roles & Responsibilities of Physicians in Hospice Care
Byock, JPM May 2023

Unmet Needs for PC
Safabakhsh et al, BMJ Feb 2023

MVQoLI in QOL Encyclopedia
Byock et al, Jan 2023

2022

Psychedelics for Serious Illness
Byock, CAPC blog Feb 2022

2021

Mapping an Agenda for Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy
Beaussant et al, JPM 2021

2020

Heroism & Hypocrisy
Byock, JPM Nov 2020

Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy in Palliative Care - Research agenda
Beaussant et al, JPM Oct 2020

2018

Taking Psychedelics Seriously
Byock, JPM 2018

Love & Boundaries in Medicine
Byock, Hastings Bioethics Forum June 2018

2016

Imagining People Well
Byock, Chapt in Awake at the Bedside 2016

2010

Dying with Dignity
Byock, Hastings Center Report Mar 2010

2009

Beyond Polarization, Public Opinion
Byock et al, AJHPM 2009

2008

Medication Kits for Hospice Emergencies
Bishop et al, JPM 2008

The Outlook Study
Steinhauser et al, JPM 2008

2006

Promoting Excellence in EoL Care
Byock et al, JPM 2006

2005

Contract, Covenants, Advance Care Planning
Finns et al, JPSM Jan 2005

2004

Loving Care
Byock, Health Progress July-Aug 2004

2003

PC & Ethics of Research
Byock, Supportive Onc Jul/Aug 2003

Rediscovering Community at Core of Human Condition and Social Covenant
Byock, Hastings Mar/Apr 2003

Expanding the Realm
Byock, JPM Mar 2003

Hospice Benefits and Phase I Cancer Trials
Byock & Miles, Annals of Int Med Feb 2003

2002

Dying Well in Corrections - Why Should We Care?
Byock, J Correctional Health Care 2002

The Meaning & Value of Death
Byock, JPM 2002

2001

Conceptual Framework for Community
Byock et al, JPSM 2001

2000

Terminal Suffering
Byock, Annals of Int Med 2000

1999

Conceptual Models and Outcomes of Caring
Byock, JPM 1999

1996

Nature of Suffering and the Nature of Opportunity
Byock, Clinics in Geriatric Medicine 1996

1995

Patient Refusal of Nutrition and Hydration
Byock, AJHPC 1995

Walking the Ever-Finer Line
Byock, AJHPC 1995

1994

Routinization of Hospice - From Innocence to Audit
Byock, AJHPC 1994

Right Problem, Wrong Solution
Byock & Kevorkian, Hastings Center Report, Wash Post Jan 1994

PUBLIC ARTICLES & OP-EDS

2023

Hospice Reform Should Start with Apologies
Byock, STAT August 2023

2022

Hospice Care Needs Saving
Byock, STAT December 2022

Pandemic Lesson on Caring - and Living
Byock, Medium Jan 2022

2020

Seeing the World with 2020 Vision
Byock, NHPCO Fall NewsLine 2020

A Patriotic Duty to Have The Conversation
Byock, Stat News Apr 2020

A Crash Course in Being Mortal
Byock, Medium Apr 2020

This Pandemic Is Personal
Thrive Global Mar 2020

A Matter of Heart
Byock, Thrive Global Mar 2020

2019

Hopewell House hospice has closed. You should care.
Byock, STAT Nov 2019

Wellbeing in Dying
Byock, Thrive Global Sept 2019

2018

Places of Comfort & Caring
Byock, America Magazine July 2018

Medicine's 'Original Sin'
Byock, Thrive Global Sept 2019

2017

The Ultimate Gift
Byock, Prevention August 2017

2016

What Would Doctors Do?
Byock, NYT June 2016

Why Do We Pay for Bad Care
Byock, STAT June 2016

2015

Democrats Shouldn’t Endorse Suicide
Byock, POLITICO June 2015

'Death with Dignity' strong dose of skepticism
Byock, LA Times Jan 2025

Dying Shouldn't Be Brutal
Byock, NYT Jan 2015

2012

Physician-Assisted Suicide Is Not Progressive
Byock, The Atlantic Oct, 2012

Spiritual core of the human condition
Byock, The Best Care Possible excerpt, 2012

MVQOLI
Quality of Life Index

An Assessment and Outcome Measure for Palliative Care

Quality of life (QOL) in the context of advanced, progressive, incurable illness, isdefined as the subjective experience of an individual living with the interpersonal, psychological, and existential or spiritual challenges that accompany the process of physical and functional decline and the knowledge of impending demise. A person’s QOL can range from suffering, associated with physical distress and/or a sense of impending disintegration, to the experience of wellness and personal growth arising from the completion of developmental work and the mastery of developmental landmarks.

Byock and Merriman, Pall. Med., 12:231-244, 1998 Ira Byock, MD, FAAHPM

Registration

There are no fees for using the Missoula-VITAS Quality of Life Index but we do ask that you register by providing your organization name and a contact person.

Guide to using the MVQOLI

This guide is designed to assist you in implementing the Missoula-VITAS Quality of Life Index. It will be most useful for implementation on a small scale or in a pilot study. The materials are excerpted and adapted from training materials originally created by VITAS Healthcare Corporation and The Hospice Institute of the Florida Suncoast.

Appendices for use with the guide:

Appendix 1: MVQOLI - 15 item version with scoring information

Appendix 2: MVQOLI - 25 item version with scoring information

Appendix 3: Spanish MVQOLI - 15 item version

Appendix 4: Spanish MVQOLI - 25 item version

Appendix 5: EXCEL scoring program for MVQOLI - 15 item version

Appendix 6: EXCEL scoring program for MVQOLI - 25 item version

Appendix 7: MVQOLI EXCEL (automated) Scoring Instructions

Appendix 8: MVQOLI Manual (not automated) Scoring Instructions

PDF Format

Appendix 9: MVQOLI Date Due Excel File Sample

Appendix 10: Instructions for the Date Due

Versions of the tool:

English MVQOLI - 15 item version

English MVQOLI - 25 item version

Spanish MVQOLI - 15 item version

Spanish MVQOLI - 25 item version

Greek MVQOLI - 15 item version

Greek MVQOLI - 25 item version

Thai MVQOLI - 25 item version

bottom of page