To Die Well: Your Right to Comfort, Calm, and Choice in the Last Days of Life (Hardcover)

by Sidney Wanzer (Author), Joseph Glenmullen (Author)
Key Phrases: medical proxy document, unwanted treatment, hastening death, United States, Derek Humphry, Terri Schiavo (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
A leader in the rigiht-to-die movement, Wanzer advocates measures that allow patients to control decisions about end-of-life treatment and ensure a peaceful death. . With the help of Harvard Medical School faculty member Glenmullen (The Antidepressant Solution), Wanzer, himself the former head of Harvard University Law School Health Services, provide clear legal and medical guidelines for the terminally ill and their loved ones who are facing these decisions. Drawing on case histories, the author outlines the rights of patients, advises them on how to appoint a health care proxy and on ways to refuse unwanted treatments. Wanzer also supports opting for only comfort care, in which the focus is on minimizing pain and making patients comfortable. . Although he empasizes the need to differentiate between a terminally ill patient’s rational decision to end his or her life and suicidal depression, Wanzer argues that when someone is in uncontrollable pain with no hope of improvement, hastening death—through large doses of morphine, refusal of fluids or inhaling helium—should be an option. Wanzer and Glenmuller clearly delineate a patient’s rights, including the right to refuse treatment, and provide information on appointing a health-care proxy, among other options. They provide a wealth of information on a matter most of us would rather not think about.
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Review
"A careful, well-organized, thoughtful explication of the 'turning points' patients and families face when serious illness strikes." -- World Right-to-Die Newsletter, Summer 2007

"A guiding light on the turbid road to comfort, calm and choice in the last days of life....written for patients and their families and caregivers in a determined attempt to shed revealing light on what contributes to a peaceful death and what does not." -- Metapsychology Online Reviews, 10/23/07

"An essential addition not just for medical libraries, but for general-interest collections." -- Midwest Book Review, May 2007

"Clear, logical, and practical...More useful than the many other recent books on death and dying...influential." -- Library Journal (starred review), 3/1/07

"Takes a reasonable and reassuring approach to all the uncertainties of the inevitable end... A calming aid." -- Infodad.com, 4/26/07

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 232 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press; 1 edition (March 12, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738210838
• ISBN-13: 978-0738210834
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #245,761 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Medical commonsense at last !, April 10, 2007

By	Derek J. Humphry "Writer" (Oregon, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

At last! Two doctors have written a right-to-die book with the patients' interests first. Very readable by the lay person, bundles of good advice on how a patient's best interests should be protected, and straightforward reporting on euthanasia and assisted suicide. Recommend for instant reading, and filing away for future problems. -- Derek Humphry ('Final Exit')

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It promises to be an essential addition not just for medical libraries, May 11, 2007

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

TO DIE WELL: YOUR RIGHT TO COMFORT, CALM, AND CHOICE IN THE LAST DAYS OF LIFE comes from a leader in the right-to-die movement, and a Harvard Medical School psychiatrist who offer insights on turning points in a dying patient's life: one when no reasonable expectation of a cure is possible, the second involving hastening death - the subject of this book. TO DIE WELL focuses on patient rights, physician involvement, and how to stay in control of advance directives. It promises to be an essential addition not just for medical libraries, but for general-interest collections.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Useful information to help you live, and die, well, May 10, 2008

By	Fran Moreland Johns (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: To Die Well: Your Right to Comfort, Calm, and Choice in the Last Days of Life (Paperback)

This book should be on the shelf of everyone who thinks he or she might indeed die some day, and on the shelves of caregivers and hospice volunteers and end-of-life professionals everywhere as well. It is honest, easily readable and crammed with useful information every thinking person should have. The authors identify the times - introducing the helpful concept of "turning points" - which most of us will encounter as our health declines, and outline how we can take charge of our lives by recognizing these times. The first is when "there is no reasonable expectation of a cure or of restoring health;" the second is when the prospect of hastening death may appropriately be considered. While the authors are physicians, and some of the writing seems aimed toward physician-readers, the book is for everyone and accessible for the lay reader. Its point-by-point instructions on patient rights and hypothetical situations will enable dying individuals and/or their families to be better informed of potential choices and to remain in control of their own lives. It is this recognition of the individual's right to retain control that makes To Die Well unique among books of its type. Also included are accurate summaries of documents everyone should have, useful histories and information on end-of-life organizations. So pair this book with another favorite - poems, essays, (or perhaps my own Dying Unafraid) - and do yourself and your loved ones a favor by spreading it around.