Gawande, a practicing surgeon, addresses his profession's ultimate limitation, arguing that quality of life is the desired goal for patients and families of the terminally ill.

Katy Butler was living thousands of miles from her vigorous and self-reliant parents when the call came: a crippling stroke had left her proud seventy-nine-year-old father unable to fasten a belt or complete a sentence. Tragedy at first drew the family closer: her mother devoted herself to caregiving, and Butler joined the twenty-four million Americans helping shepherd parents through their final declines. Then doctors outfitted her father with a...

"An inspiring, informative, and practical guide to navigating end of life issues, by a groundbreaking expert in the field and the New York Times bestselling author of Knocking on Heaven's Door. In the mid-1400s, an unnamed Catholic monk composed a popular self-help book called Ars Moriendi, or The Art of Dying. Written in Latin, this medieval death manual taught people how to navigate the trials of the deathbed, using simple rituals of repentance,...

The goal of End of life: Helping with Comfort and Care is to provide guidance and help in understanding the unfamiliar territory of death. This information is based on research, such as that supported by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), along with other parts of the National Institutes of Health. It also includes suggestions from healthcare providers with expertise in helping individuals and families through this difficult time.

In a series of interviews with terminally ill patients, with physicians, ethicists, spouses, relatives, and representatives of whose who vigorously oppose the right-to-die movement, Rehm presents the arguments both for and against assisted suicide. In giving voice to those who are personally linked to the realities of medical aid in dying, she provides full context for this highly divisive issue. -- adapted from jacket.

"Providing a detailed picture of contemporary palliative care, this book chronicles four centuries of professional and personal advances in the quest for a good death, covering the fight against futile treatments, the history of life-extending treatments and technologies, the liberation of the dying from isolation in hospitals and hard-won victories to secure patients' right to choose"

A palliative care doctor on the front lines of hospital care illuminates one of the most important and controversial ethical issues of our time on his quest to transform care through the end of life. It is harder to die in this country than ever before. Statistics show that the vast majority of Americans would prefer to die at home, yet many of us spend our last days fearful and in pain in a healthcare system ruled by high-tech procedures and a philosophy...

"Dan Morhaim, a practicing physician and Maryland state legislator, guides readers through the medical and legal maze of end-of-life care. He details the care choices available and demystifies living wills and advance directives. Breaking down the barriers to a difficult but essential topic, he shows the way to a better end."--P. [4] of cover.