Description

Handbook for Mortals is warmly addressed to all those who wish to approach the final years of life with greater awareness of what to expect and greater confidence about how to make the end of our lives a time for growth, comfort, and meaningful reflection. Written by Drs. Joanne Lynn and Joan Harrold and a variety of experts from nursing, hospice, counseling, and the arts, this book provides equal measures of practical information and gentle insight. Readers will learn what decisions they will need to face, where to look for help, how to ease pain and other symptoms, what to expect with specific diseases, and how the health-care system operates. Equally important to this practical information are the personal stories included here of how people have come to terms with dying, faced their fears, and made important choices.

From down-to-earth advice on how to talk to your doctor to inspiring quotes from such writers as W. H. Auden, Jane Kenyon, and others, Handbook for Mortals encompasses the needs of both the body and the spirit in our final years.

Features

• Featured on Bill Moyer's PBS series, On Our Own Terms

Reviews

"A helpful work for patients and their families who are confronted with serious illness at the end of life."--Journal of the American Medical Association

"Serious, kind and respectful...keeps the focus on the patients and their personal choices." --New York Daily News

"An extremely well-considered guide for people facing serious illness--patients, relatives, and friends....Gives realistic advice on the emotional and practical steps needed to be taken when time is short, from saying goodbye to loved ones to choosing and arranging for the desired terminal care."--Oncology Times

Product Details

256 pages; 86 halftones & line illus; 6-1/8 x 9-1/4; ISBN13: 978-0-19-514601-1ISBN10: 0-19-514601-8

About the Author(s)