"Life and Death on Your Own
Terms"
Author, Dr. Basta, MD
This insightful, compassionate, and lucidly written handbook by a world renowned cardiologist is also a personal testimonial by a surviving cancer patient and an informative guide to end-of-life issues. Dr. Basta relies on his medical expertise and first-hand experience with a life-threatening illness to critique our death-denying, technologically obsessed culture, while giving patients the means to take control of their final days. He underscores that physicians, the public, and society as a whole must come to terms with the unalterable truth that life is finite and that medical intervention beyond a certain point only prolongs suffering. When a cure or hope of a better life ceases to be achievable, he urges comprehensive palliative care, which attends to the patient's physical comfort, emotional reassurance, and spiritual encouragement. To ensure that patients are empowered to provide for their final needs, he provides revolutionary, clear, simple, and medical-scenario--specific Advance Care Plan, which gives each of us the opportunity to execute all-important life-and-death decisions before we are afflicted with a serious health problem and before decisions are irrevocable.
In sum, this book is a tribute to the highly treasured doctor-patient relationship. Readers who feel that doctors have lost touch with the patient's perspectives will welcome Dr. Basta's empathy and caring tone.
"A
GRACEful Exit, Life and Death On Your Own Terms"
Author, Dr. Basta, MD
The one thing that my affliction with cancer has taught me is how fragile we all are. It made me think about the finish line. And I discovered that as a society, we are doing a poor job of meeting our fate. We are wasting valuable resources just to buy a miserable end, so that more of us endure a nightmare of high-tech medical intervention as we make our final farewell. Clearly there must be a better way, and it is within our grasp. We have to rediscover that death is naturally inevitable. We need to prepare for it, accept it and make it as serene and dignified as can be.