Synopsis
Explores the dichotomy between how patients want to live the end of their lives and the medical establishment's extreme interventions, performed at immense cost and with little regard to pain, human comfort, or the wishes of family and patients.
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Review
"Damn, I wish I'd had this book before my own father died. Part a guide to thinking through the policy questions surrounding the end of life, and part an informal handbook for helping with the deaths of your own loved ones, it also offers a final and supreme gift: the chance to begin thinking about what your own life means in the context of its inevitable end."---Bill McKibben author of "The End of Nature"
"With an uncommon mix of stories and scholarship, Stephen Kiernan has described the challenges that remain at life's end, despite efforts to reform care over the past few decades. With candor, clarity, and an advocate's sense of urgency, he seeks to understand why our acute-care system has been so resistant to change and how we can infuse
greater humanity to life's final chapter."---Joseph J. Fins, M.D., F.A.C.P., Chief of the Division of Medical Ethics, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, and author of "A Palliative Ethic of Care: Clinical Wisdom at Life's End"
""Last Rites "paints a frightening picture of the disorganized, deficient, and disastrous ways many people are cared for and die. Thankfully, Kiernan goes beyond expose to uncover hopeful progress and practical ways to protect and nurture the people we love. Kiernan's "Last Rites "is to end-of-life care today what Nader's "Unsafe at Any Speed "was to car safety in the 1960s. This is one book that America must read!"---Ira Byock, M.D., Professor of Palliative Medicine, Dartmouth Medical School, and author of "Dying Well" and "The Four Things That Matter Most""
Damn, I wish I'd had this book before my own father died. Part a guide to thinking through the policy questions surrounding the end of life, and part an informal handbook for helping with the deaths of your own loved ones, it also offers a final and supreme gift: the chance to begin thinking about what your own life means in the context of its inevitable end. "Bill McKibben author of The End of Nature"
With an uncommon mix of stories and scholarship, Stephen Kiernan has described the challenges that remain at life's end, despite efforts to reform care over the past few decades. With candor, clarity, and an advocate's sense of urgency, he seeks to understand why our acute-care system has been so resistant to change and how we can infuse
greater humanity to life's final chapter. "Joseph J. Fins, M.D., F.A.C.P., Chief of the Division of Medical Ethics, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, and author of A Palliative Ethic of Care: Clinical Wisdom at Life's End"
"Last Rites "paints a frightening picture of the disorganized, deficient, and disastrous ways many people are cared for and die. Thankfully, Kiernan goes beyond expose to uncover hopeful progress and practical ways to protect and nurture the people we love. Kiernan's "Last Rites "is to end-of-life care today what Nader's "Unsafe at Any Speed "was to car safety in the 1960s. This is one book that America must read! "Ira Byock, M.D., Professor of Palliative Medicine, Dartmouth Medical School, and author of Dying Well and The Four Things That Matter Most""
"Damn, I wish I'd had this book before my own father died. Part a guide to thinking through the policy questions surrounding the end of life, and part an informal handbook for helping with the deaths of your own loved ones, it also offers a final and supreme gift: the chance to begin thinking about what your own life means in the context of its inevitable end." --Bill McKibben author of The End of Nature
"With an uncommon mix of stories and scholarship, Stephen Kiernan has described the challenges that remain at life's end, despite efforts to reform care over the past few decades. With candor, clarity, and an advocate's sense of urgency, he seeks to understand why our acute-care system has been so resistant to change and how we can infuse
greater humanity to life's final chapter." --Joseph J. Fins, M.D., F.A.C.P., Chief of the Division of Medical Ethics, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, and author of A Palliative Ethic of Care: Clinical Wisdom at Life's End
"Last Rites paints a frightening picture of the disorganized, deficient, and disastrous ways many people are cared for and die. Thankfully, Kiernan goes beyond expose to uncover hopeful progress and practical ways to protect and nurture the people we love. Kiernan's Last Rites is to end-of-life care today what Nader's Unsafe at Any Speed was to car safety in the 1960s. This is one book that America must read!" --Ira Byock, M.D., Professor of Palliative Medicine, Dartmouth Medical School, and author of Dying Well and The Four Things That Matter Most
About the Author
Stephen P. Kiernan is a writer and journalist for the Burlington Free Press. He is the author of The Curiosity, Last Rights and Authentic Patriotism. His numerous awards include the Gerald Loeb Award for Financial Journalism, the Associated Press Managing Editors' Freedom of Information Award, and the George Polk Award. He lives in Charlotte, Vermont.
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Last Rights: Rescuing the End of Life from the Medical System - Large Print
Published by
Thorndike Press April 2007, 2007
ISBN 10: 0786294558
ISBN 13: 9780786294558
Used
Hardcover
Seller: Round About Books, Goldsboro, NC, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Used. No Jacket. Used, clean condition, no jacket. Seller Inventory # 3591