"An ICU and Palliative Care specialist featured in the Netflix documentary Extremis offers a framework for a better way to exit life that will change our medical culture at the deepest level In medical school, no one teaches you how to let a patient die. Jessica Zitter became a doctor because she wanted to be a hero. She elected to specialize in critical care--to become an ICU physician--and imagined herself swooping in to rescue patients from the...

"One of the best books available on caring for the dying, The Dying Time combines deep insight and down-to-earth practicality. All caregivers need to know what's between these covers. This book demystifies the process of death, yet honors the sacredness of life's final transition. Highly recommended."
Larry Dossey, M.D., author of Prayer Is Good Medicine
"Living until we die can be difficult. This book can guide you through that...

Caring for the Dying describes a whole new way to approach death and dying. It explores how the dying and their families can bring deep meaning and great comfort to the care given at the end of a life. Created by Henry Fersko-Weiss, the end-of-life doula model is adapted from the work of birth doulas and helps the dying to find meaning in their life, express that meaning in powerful and beautiful legacies, and plan for the final days. The approach

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"Following the death of her father, journalist and hospice volunteer Ann Neumann sets out to examine what it means to die well in the United States. If a good death exists, what does it look like? This question lies at the heart of Neumann's rigorously researched and intimately told journey along the ultimate borderland of American life: American death. From church basements to hospital wards to prison cells, Neumann charts the social, political,...

"The Day I Die is a major work of nonfiction that tackles the one issue we'll all eventually come to face-our final days, hours, and minutes. With clarity and empathy, award-winning anthropologist Anita Hannig uncovers the stigma against the practice of assisted dying, untangles the legalities and logistics of pursuing an assisted death in America today, and profiles the dedicated advocates and medical personnel involved. In intimate, lyrical detail,...

"There is an unspoken dark side of American medicine--keeping patients alive at all costs. Two thirds of Americans die in healthcare institutions tethered to machines and tubes, even though research indicates that most prefer to die at home in comfort, surrounded by loved ones. The question How do you want to live? must be posed to the seriously ill because they deserve to choose. If doctors explain options--including the choice to forego countless...

Presents an approach to death that emphasizes thoughtful planning for how the last days should look, sound, and feel, and encourages the use of touch, guided imagery, and ritual during the dying process aa well as calling for around-the-clock vigil care, which provides emotional and spiritual support for both the dying person and their loved ones.

"Advanced directives and living wills have improved our ability to dictate end-of-life care, but even these cannot guarantee that we will be allowed the dignity of a natural death. Designed by two sisters-one a doctor, one a lawyer-and drawing on their decades of experience, the five-step Compassion Protocol outlined in A Better Way of Dying offers a simple and effective framework for leaving caretakers concrete, unambiguous, and legally binding instructions...

"After an accident leaves his wife Elle brain dead, Matt Beaulieu, resolving to take her off life support, changes his mind when the doctors discover that she is pregnant--a decision that results in a controversial legal battle with Elle's family"--Provided by the publisher.

Changes in health care have dramatically altered the experience of dying in America.

At the turn of the twentieth century, medicine's imperative to cure disease increasingly took priority over the demand to relieve pain and suffering at the end of life. Filled with heartbreaking stories, The Inevitable Hour demonstrates that professional attention and resources gradually were diverted from dying patients.

Emily K. Abel challenges

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