Last Rights Rescuing the End of Life from the Medical System

by Kiernan, Stephen P.

• ISBN13: 9780312374648
• ISBN10: 031237464X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-12-10
• Publisher: Griffin

Summary

'Gripping...A superb resource for boomers dealing with their parents' final days...as well as for health-care professionals who need to hear this story from the other side.'--Kirkus Reviews With advances in medicine, technology, and daily diet and exercise practices, Americans are living longer than ever before.We have an unprecedented opportunity for meaningful closure - free of pain, among loved ones, with our affairs in order and spiritual calm attained. Instead, most of us discover that our doctor has minimal training in providing end-of-life care, and will seek to extend life no matter how painful, expensive and futile that effort might be. In Last Rights, award-winning journalist Stephen P. Kiernan shows how patients and families can regain control of the dying process, creating familial intimacy like never before.Bolstered by both scientific research and intimate portraits of people from all walks of life, Last Rights offers a hopeful, profound vision for patients, doctors, and families: a way to honor people during their greatest vulnerability, a chance for families to reconnect, an opportunity for the medical system to treat patients with ultimate respect, a time to give comfort and compassion to those we most love.

Author Biography

STEPHEN KIERNAN is a writer and journalist for the Burlington Free Press. 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.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. xi
The Imprint a Body Makes
Last Hours	p. 6
This Is the News	p. 7
A Baby and a Basketball Game	p. 18
A Dog Is Better Than a Pill	p. 23
So Much Potential	p. 47
Not an Emergency
What Is a Crisis?	p. 51
Possible Paths	p. 55
Still Alive	p. 65
Mysteries of Life	p. 70
Two Visions	p. 72
Heal Thyself
Doctors' Beginnings	p. 77
"Take Five Years"	p. 82
A Piece of Cake	p. 88
"This Was Medicine	p. 95
"Maybe I Can Make You Laugh"	p. 103
Barriers to Change	p. 109
Medicine and Love are Not the Same Thing
One Experience	p. 127
Families as "Problems"	p. 130
No One in Charge	p. 138
The Economics of Dying	p. 152
The Most Important Time	p. 159
Smelling the Roses
"Her Wishes Were Totally Ignored"	p. 179
The Desire for Control	p. 183
Dreams Coming True	p. 191
The Final Caress	p. 207
"We Can Celebrate"	p. 216
A Gift of Silver
Lobster Newburg	p. 223
A Bowl of Applesauce	p. 233
Illness As Opportunity	p. 240
The Lesson of the Leaves
The Endless Cycle	p. 245
An Agenda for Improvement	p. 247
Four Final Lessons	p. 270
Sources and Resources	p. 277
Acknowledgments	p. 289
Index	p. 291
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