"As a hospitalist, Dr. Gordon has had many opportunities to observe the agonies of a bad death -- one in which patients failed to leave adequate instructions for how they should be treated when therapy for their disease is no longer helping."
Jane Brody, New York Times Columnist and author of
Jane Brody's Guide to the Great Beyond and other books. --New York Times, Science Times, August 17, 2009
"As a hospitalist, Dr. Gordon has had many opportunities to observe the agonies of a bad death -- one in which patients failed to leave adequate instructions for how they should be treated when therapy for their disease is no longer helping."
Jane Brody, New York Times Columnist and author of
Jane Brody's Guide to the Great Beyond and other books. --New York Times, Science Times, August 17, 2009 --New York Times, August 17, 2009
"Dr. Gordon practices what he preaches by getting patients, as well as their families, to talk about what they want at the end of life while they still can, and he tries to make both patients and families aware of realistic rates of recovery." --Betty Rollin, PBS Religion and Ethics NewsWeekly and Author of
First You Cry"I found reading it to be not only educational, but also engrossing and moving." --Peter Singer, Professor of Bioethics, Princeton University and author of
The Life You Can Save and many other publications.
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A Death Prolonged is a fictional, fast-paced portrayal of very real problems that health care professionals and patients face every day. End-of-life situations are poorly managed today, and Dr. Gordon suggests several measures that could lead to substantial change. He presents a compelling case for the need to reallocate many health care dollars, spent ineffectively at the end of life, to far more-effective prevention and treatment options." --Charles A. Bush, M.D., Medical Director, The Ohio State University, Richard M. Ross Heart Hospital
"Death either comes too soon or too late; seldom on time.
A Death Prolonged addresses how we can plan ahead with our patients, clients, parishioners, friends and family to ease the burden when death comes. Dr. Gordon uses a story to dramatize case histories that enlighten the various ethical, legal, and practical problems regarding end-of-life decisions. You will find this book hard to put down once you open to Chapter One." --Robert L. Wrenn, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus in Psychology, University of Arizona
Dr. Jeff Gordon understands the value of communication and education among health care professionals, patients, and family/surrogate to address end-of-life care. The unique skills needed for this type of care are taught primarily at the bedside, but this book provides a platform for learning in an academic setting.
A Death Prolonged should be mandatory reading for all students in health care professions, including pharmacy, nursing, and medicine." --Warren L. Wheeler, M.D., Medical Director, Palliative Medicine Nathan Adelson Hospice, Las Vegas, Nevada
Dr. Gordon has written a compelling novel that addresses a major social issue. We will not be able to finance health care in America if we do not deal with the overwhelming burden of end-of-life care. Thirty percent of Medicare expenditures occur during the last year of life and one-half of that is spent in the last two months. That represents $68 billion in 2008. Our population is growing older, so without changes, this burden will continue to swell.
Most elderly people have not discussed their wishes about end-of-life care, so the medical system must take every measure to prolong their lives. One must determine in advance to decline life-prolonging measures, if that is their choice. Dr. Gordon advocates for patient education because medical studies show that people do not understand end-of-life care. Reality television depicts measures like CPR and resuscitation as successful most of the time, when the truth is a success rate of 5-10% in people over age 70. People need these facts to make informed decisions.
Besides the needless suffering in elderly people as they face a prolonged death, uninsured people often delay or decline medical care that could avoid catastrophic illness. Dr. Gordon takes the reader into the real life situations of an urban hospital to face these realities.
