Because I Knew You: How Some Remarkable Sick Kids Healed a Doctor's Soul

As one of the few pediatric palliative care doctors in the United States, Bob Macauley was used to people saying, "I'm so glad I don't have your job." To which he would explain that palliative care is more about living than dying, then offer to share some of the inspiring stories he witnessed on a daily basis. He might mention that also being an Episcopal priest helped him console people in the hardest situations. But he never revealed the true reason for his career choice: he didn't want anyone else to hurt the way he had when he was a kid.

Author: Robert Macauley
Publisher: Chehalem Press
Published: 06/03/2025
Pages: 370
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.19lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.82d
ISBN: 9781594981517


Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 09/01/2025

About the Author
Macauley, Robert: - Robert Macauley, MD is one of only a few hundred pediatricians in the United States who is board certified in hospice and palliative medicine. After simultaneously attending both medical school and divinity school at Yale, he completed pediatric residency at Johns Hopkins. For over a decade he directed both the Department of Clinical Ethics as well as the Pediatric Palliative Care Team at the University of Vermont. He is now Cambia Health Foundation Endowed Chair in Pediatric Palliative Care at Oregon Health and Science University. He has held leadership roles in a wide variety of national organizations, including serving on the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM) and as Chair of both the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Committee on Bioethics, as well as the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Hospice and Palliative Medicine Test Writing Committee. He is also an accomplished writer. Having earned an MFA in Fiction from Vermont College of Fine Arts-where he was awarded the Founders Scholarship-he is the author of the definitive textbook in his field (Ethics in Palliative Care: A Complete Guide, Oxford University Press, 2018), as well as over fifty peer-reviewed articles and editorials in the academic literature, in journals such as Pediatrics, Journal of Palliative Medicine, and Journal of Medical Ethics. He was awarded Honorable Mention in the Writer's Digest Short Story competition and has published poetry in journals such as The Red Wheelbarrow. In addition to his medical work, Dr. Macauley is also an Episcopal priest, having served parishes in Maryland, Connecticut, New York, Vermont, and Oregon.