"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, reassurance, and letting go. ...Award-winning journalist Katy Butler argues that we have lost touch with the "art of dying" as practiced by our ancestors, yet we still hunger for rites of passage,...

"The first and only all-encompassing action plan for the end of life. When it comes to death, we are all beginners. What we could use is a clear-eyed, bighearted friend to hold our hand and walk us through not just the practical decisions we'll have to make in the coming months and years, but also how to engage with loved ones and face our fears. That is why one of the leading hospice and palliative medicine doctors in the country and an experienced...

When Dr. David Eitrheim was diagnosed with an aggressive form of tongue cancer, his physicians gave him six to nine months to live. As an avid marathon, and ultra-marathon runner, this was shocking and unexpected: how could an otherwise healthy and relatively young man be given such a grim prognosis? With an abrupt end to his medical career, and his running days probably over, he decided to write a weekly blog in order to keep in contact with patients,...

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 treatmentsand technologies, the liberation of the dying from isolation in hospitals and hard-won victories to secure patients' right to choose. --

Delving into the vast body of research on the evolving nature of death, Modern Death will provide readers with an enriched understanding of how death differs from the past, what our ancestors got right, and how trends and events have transformed this most final of human experiences.

A collection of twenty-two personal narratives explores what should be done in the health care system with regards to death, dying, and palliative care.

A musician facing the untimely end of his career. An end-of-life doula with everything, and nothing, to lose. A Star Is Born meets Me Before You in this powerful novel by the author of A Million Reasons Why. As an end-of-life doula, Nova Huston's job-her calling, her purpose, her life-is to help terminally ill people make peace with their impending death. Unlike her business partner, who swears by her system of checklists, free-spirited Nova doesn't...

"An exquisitely written, expertly reported memoir and expose; of modern medicine that leads the way to more humane, less invasive end-of-life care based on the author's acclaimed New York Times Magazine piece. This is the story of one daughter's struggle to allow her parents the peaceful, natural deaths they wanted and to investigate the larger forces in medicine that stood in the way. When doctors refused to disable the pacemaker that caused her...

"In Dear Life, palliative care specialist Dr. Rachel Clarke recounts her professional and personal journey to understand not the end of life, but life at its end. Death was conspicuously absent during Rachel's medical training. Instead, her education focused entirely on learning to save lives, and was left wanting when it came to helping patients and their families face death. She came to specialize in palliative medicine because it is the one specialty...

"Dealing with a loved one's life-threatening illness brings difficult and daunting tasks for caregivers. Not knowing when and how to say things and what to do is frightening. Caregivers often feel they are "walking on eggshells." This valuable, practical guide offers comfort, support and advice for managing economic, emotional and daily stressors from day one of the diagnosis" -- Publisher's description.