Preface | p. ix |
Prologue: End-of-Life Issues Are Not New for Me | p. xvii |
Get Ready Now For the Great Beyond | p. 1 |
Death Is Inevitable: So Be Prepared | p. 3 |
A Good Death: There's More Than One Right Way to Die | p. 9 |
Accepting the Patient's Terms | p. 11 |
When the Patient Is Prepared | p. 13 |
When Death Is Sudden | p. 15 |
Help from an Advance Directive | p. 16 |
Even a Good Death Can Sting | p. 17 |
What Most Patients and Families Want | p. 18 |
Advance Directives: A Living Will Is Not Enough | p. 23 |
But Will Your Living Will Help? | p. 24 |
Do You Really Mean "Do Not Resuscitate"? | p. 28 |
An Improved Living Will | p. 29 |
Box: Medical Living Will with Code Status Advance Directive | p. 33 |
You Must Assign a Health Care Proxy | p. 40 |
When Someone Refuses to Create an Advance Directive | p. 44 |
Funeral? Memorial? Why Plan Ahead for the End | p. 46 |
Controlling the Costs | p. 49 |
Warning: An Advance Purchase Can Backfire | p. 50 |
Box: Back-to-Nature Burials | p. 51 |
Planning a Service | p. 52 |
Charting a Course to the End of Life | p. 55 |
Uncertain Future: Living with a Bad Prognosis | p. 57 |
Tell Me, Doc, How Much Time Have I Got? | p. 58 |
The Value of Knowing Time Is Short | p. 61 |
Talking the Talk | p. 63 |
Doctors Need Help, Too | p. 65 |
Coma: When the Brain Is on Hold | p. 67 |
Common Causes of Coma | p. 68 |
A Confusion of States | p. 70 |
Living Well to the End: Where and How | p. 73 |
Do You Really Want to Die at Home? | p. 73 |
What IS Important? Control of Symptoms | p. 75 |
Is There a Role for Feeding Tubes? | p. 80 |
When Treatment Is Futile | p. 83 |
Withholding and Withdrawing Life Support | p. 86 |
When Someone Is Actively Dying | p. 88 |
Caregiving: Tending Someone at the End of Life | p. 94 |
A Rewarding Experience | p. 95 |
A Demanding Job | p. 96 |
Relieving Symptoms | p. 98 |
Managing Pain | p. 101 |
Getting the Help You Need | p. 103 |
Caring for the Caregiver | p. 106 |
How to Know and What to do When the End Is Near | p. 110 |
Respect Wishes for Privacy or Company | p. 111 |
Hospice and Palliative Care: Don't Wait Until It's Too Late | p. 114 |
An Underused Resource | p. 115 |
How Hospice Can Help | p. 117 |
Many Wait Too Long to Enroll | p. 120 |
Hospice Provides Palliative Care | p. 123 |
Sources of Hospice Care | p. 125 |
Box: A Hospice Doctor Finds Joy | p. 127 |
Spiritual Care: Lighten and Enlighten an End-of-Life Journey | p. 130 |
Spirituality Versus Religiosity | p. 131 |
Prepare Yourself Spiritually | p. 133 |
What Family and Friends Can Do | p. 136 |
What Doctors Can Do | p. 138 |
When a Child Is Dying: Surviving the Nightmare | p. 142 |
Children Need and Deserve Comfort Care | p. 144 |
Parents Can Help . . . and Need Help | p. 146 |
What Parents Want from Doctors | p. 149 |
Box: A Mother Recalls Her Baby's Last Day | p. 151 |
Needs of a Dying Child | p. 152 |
Easing the End of a Child's Life | p. 154 |
When a Child Dies Suddenly | p. 156 |
Continuing Care After a Child Dies | p. 157 |
What to Say: Conversations at the End of Life | p. 159 |
Silence Is Not Golden | p. 160 |
Create a Conducive Atmosphere | p. 162 |
Gird Your Loins for Strong Feelings | p. 163 |
What Is-and Is Not-Okay to Say | p. 165 |
Doctors, Too, Must Know What to Say | p. 167 |
Box: Improving Doctor-Patient Communication | p. 170 |
What Patients and Families Want and Need | p. 171 |
Box: Communicating with Hope | p. 173 |
Doctors Who Disappear: What Can Be Done About It | p. 176 |
An All-Too-Common Experience | p. 177 |
Why This Happens | p. 178 |
What Patients and Families Can Do | p. 185 |
Training Compassionate Doctors | p. 187 |
Assisted Dying: What to Consider When Illness Is Unbearable | p. 191 |
Clarifying the Terms | p. 192 |
Weighing the Options | p. 196 |
Opting for a Patient-Controlled Death | p. 202 |
Box: The Oregon Death with Dignity Act | p. 204 |
Considerations if You or a Loved One Seeks a Hastened Death | p. 205 |
Box: If You Are a Physician | p. 207 |
Grief: It's Not a Disease | p. 210 |
No "Right Way" to Grieve | p. 211 |
Anticipatory Grief | p. 215 |
Common Symptoms of Grief | p. 217 |
What Many Find Helpful | p. 219 |
When Grief Is "Complicated" | p. 220 |
Can a Support Group Help? | p. 224 |
Preserving Memories | p. 226 |
What to Say When Someone Dies | p. 228 |
What you Can Do to Help the Bereaved | p. 231 |
Life After Death: What You Leave Behind Counts | p. 235 |
Organ and Body Donations: A Gift of Life | p. 237 |
A Need Unmet | p. 238 |
Misconceptions Abound | p. 240 |
Donation Following Cardiac Death | p. 241 |
Age and Health Are Not Limiting Factors | p. 243 |
Whole Body Donation | p. 244 |
Box: Your Wishes About Organ and Tissue Donation | p. 245 |
Autopsy: Valuable Lessons from the Dead | p. 247 |
A Difficult Decision | p. 250 |
Many Benefits of Autopsy | p. 252 |
Lasting Legacies: Leave Memories and Life Lessons | p. 257 |
Legacies to Treasure | p. 258 |
Overcome Your Resistance | p. 264 |
Epilogue: From the Start Consider the Finish | p. 267 |
Acknowledgments | p. 271 |
Index | p. 273 |
Illustration and Permission Credits | p. 285 |
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