Palliative Care in Liver Disease: A Podcast with Kirsten Engel, Sarah Gillespie-Heyman, Brittany Waterman, & Amy Johnson

In May we did a podcast on KidneyPal (the integration of palliative care in renal disease), which made us think, hmmm… one organ right next door is the liver. Maybe we should do a podcast on LiverPal? (or should we call it HepatoPal?)

On today’s podcast, we do that by inviting four palliative care leaders who are integrating palliative care into the care of those with liver disease: Kirsten Engel, Sarah Gillespie-Heyman, Brittany Waterman, and Amy Johnson.

It’s a jampacked 50 minutes, filled with pearls on taking care of patients with liver disease.  We cover:

• How each of their LiverPal teams are structured

• Why and how LiverPal differ from general palliative care or other palliative care specialty areas (KidneyPal, PalliPulm, etc)

• How to prognosticate in liver disease and how they communicate this with patients

• How to think about expectations of transplants and limitations of it

• How to manage complications and symptoms ranging from ascites, hepatic encephalopathy, pain, itching, cramps, and depression

Also, if you want to take an ever deeper dive, check out our 2022 podcast on End Stage Liver Disease with Jen Lai, Ricky Shinall, Nneka Ufere, and Arpan Patel