Notes from the Waiting Room: Managing a Loved One's End-of-Life-Hospitalization (includes Choosing End-of-Life Care Without Hospitalization) (Paperback)

~ Bart Windrum (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

A practical, wise, and timely exploration of an inescapable universal event. This book speaks to us all. --Richard D. Lamm, former three-term Colorado Governor, Co-Director of the University of Denver Institute for Public Policy Studies

A practical, wise, and timely exploration of an inescapable universal event. This book speaks to us all. --Richard D. Lamm, former three-term Colorado Governor, Co-Director of the University of Denver Institute for Public Policy Studies<br /><br />Making difficult medical and ethical choices can be stressful and frightening. Perhaps rightfully, Notes from the Waiting Room paints hospitals in a questionable light. The Option to Die in PEACE (Patient Ethical Alternative Care Elective) is of great benefit to patients and families everywhere, providing a practical framework to master the maze of conflicting options and opinions. --Robert Eaton, Director of Mission and Spiritual Care, Office of Mission and Ministry, St. Anthony Central Hospital, Denver, Colorado<br /><br />Notes from the Waiting Room offers a poignant and elegant examination of tensions interfering with the peaceful demise most Americans say they want. Constructive, engaging, and challenging, Notes from the Waiting Room critiques the institutionalized confusion around end-of-life goals, whereby well-intentioned people end up conflicted between deeply held values and biotechnology s siren song. A must-read for laypersons and professionals who champion common sense, good stewardship, and humane caring. --Diann Uustal, RN, MS, EdD; Clinical Ethicist, Palliative Care and End-of-Life Consultant, President, Educational Resources in HealthCare, Inc.

Making difficult medical and ethical choices can be stressful and frightening. Perhaps rightfully, Notes from the Waiting Room paints hospitals in a questionable light. The Option to Die in PEACE (Patient Ethical Alternative Care Elective) is of great benefit to patients and families everywhere, providing a practical framework to master the maze of conflicting options and opinions. --Robert Eaton, Director of Mission and Spiritual Care, Office of Mission and Ministry, St. Anthony Central Hospital, Denver, Colorado

Product Description

Act effectively during a loved one's end of life...more control; less heartache; right closure.

Notes from the Waiting Room offers unique contributions to American families. Written from a lay person's experience, research, and perspective, Bart Windrum speaks to lay people about crucial end-of-life issues in a clear and direct way...in a way that institutions and professionals either overlook or are unwilling to bring to life.

Protect vanishing precious moments.

This one-of-a-kind conversation dissects and clarifies hospitalization experiences, and discusses end-of-life choices. For every patient-family entering the end-of-life crucible.

It is possible that a loved one's terminal hospitalization and demise will go smoothly, with well-considered communication, excellent treatment, and compassionate care for the patient and family alike altogether, a humane container for a loved one's passing.

It is possible that your patient-family will experience exactly the opposite absent or dysfunctional communication, problematic treatment, and a dispassionate absence of care that feels like abandonment. These conditions result in needless shock and harm, and a lingering, additional sense of loss.

Notes from Bart Windrum: Every hospitalization is serious. Any hospitalization can become very serious. End-of-life hospitalizations are particularly challenging especially those that turn suddenly terminal.

During end-of-life hospitalization, only two things really matter: protecting and using every available opportunity to commune with your loved one, and obtaining treatment direction from your loved one. These opportunities can be infringed upon. They can and do vanish. If we don't utilize them, our loss deepens, lingering in our hearts and souls with additional weight. How can your patient-family avoid this outcome? By learning how to eliminate needless and detrimental systemic shocks.

Notes from the Waiting Room focuses primarily on understanding how hospitals really function and how patient-families can effectively function within them. Notes' major topics include:
-- how to be an effective personal representative
-- the essential legal documents
-- the distinction between treatment versus care and how that affects us
-- forecasting future events and minimizing needless, harmful shocks
-- obtaining decision-making assistance and family support from hospital personnel
-- a potpourri of hospital how-to's
-- a complete, in-depth, one-of-a-kind discussion about quandaries related to the intersection of patient directives, treatment goals, and provider prerogative around the application of resuscitation technologies
-- the nature and realities of hospitalized dying.

Additionally, Notes offers a comprehensive discussion about how to consider, and perhaps arrive at, a decision to choose end-of-life care without hospitalization. Have we struck an unexamined Faustian bargain? Does using medical technology to extend our lives imply a requirement to die in the hospital or nursing home? The Option to Die in PEACE (Patient Ethical Alternative Care Elective) offers a framework for choosing a non-institutionalized end-of-life pathway.

Notes concludes with fourteen concrete medical reform proposals, an annotated bibliography, thoughts for healthcare providers, and a 38-page index. A 70-page companion eBook, How to Efficiently Settle the Family Estate, is available at the AxiomAction website, as is more information about both books.

Acting on any one of this book's revelations will save your patient-family from angst and heartache that can linger for years afterward.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Axiom Action (February 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0980109000
• ISBN-13: 978-0980109009
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,376,693 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Insights on End-of-Life Care Options, February 16, 2008

By	Frances Shani Parker "Frances Shani Parker, A... (Detroit, Michigan) - See all my reviews

Some hospitals have a way of humbling people in an intimidating manner, making them feel small and overwhelmed. Unfortunately, loved ones navigating end-of-life journeys with hospitalized patients feel that way too often. Author Bart Windrum experienced this with his terminally ill parents. His book results partly from surviving preventable hospital stress and wanting to help others in similar situations.

Notes from the Waiting Room is peppered with personal stories from the author's experiences representing his parents. Chapter summaries, explanations of terms, and detailed background information prepare readers for deeper insights about hospitals and the medical system. Without condemning all hospitals, Windrum describes numerous problems that permeate long-term hospital stays of frustrated patients and their caregivers. Lack of real communication by healthcare providers, fragmented treatment, and hygiene breaches are a few mentioned. Assertive strategies for improving the odds of success and honoring patients' rights are also explored.

This book is especially helpful in clarifying roles of caregivers as they stumble through a medical maze of patient care, forms, and death-related issues that confront them. Their preconceived expectations about hospitals could be replaced with shocking realizations causing them to function cloaked in unaccustomed feelings of helplessness and ignorance.

Windrum concludes that those who do not want to die in hospitals should have the Option to Die in PEACE: Patient Ethical Alternative Care Elective, depending on their declining terminal health and age. He explains his support for patient-directed dying that includes hospice and palliative care. He also examines medical system reform. Notes from the Waiting Room provides extensive information for anyone interested in knowing more about end-of-life options without hospitalization.

Frances Shani Parker, Author of "Becoming Dead Right: A Hospice Volunteer in Urban Nursing Homes"
[...]

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Seeking Care Amidst Chaos, March 26, 2008

By	Daniel Johnson (Denver, Colorado USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Published studies have demonstrated marked shortcomings in end-of-life care in the hospital including untreated pain, insufficient communication and support around difficult medical decisions, and high financial burden for families. Notes from the Waiting Room is a powerful and important book. It eloquently personalizes one family's repeated journey through the all-too-common chaos and distress associated with end-of-life hospitalizations. Notes provides both practical suggestions for patients and families. Equally important, it challenges the medical profession to find better ways of ensuring "care" when "cure" is no longer possible, and highlights the importance of the emerging field of palliative care.
Daniel Johnson, MD
Palliative Medicine Physician
Director, Life Quality Institute

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book, March 26, 2008

By	calinative (San Francisco Bay Area) - See all my reviews

Notes from the Waiting Room is an excellent resource for those with aging relatives and is an inspiring motivation for all of us to realize that it's never too early to think about our own health care delivery choices. The author's personal experiences and clearly-stated stories and examples remind us that the most opportune time to address these issues is well in advance. This book can be utilized as a gentle way to broach end-of-life decisions with loved ones and ensures that the reader won't overlook any important subjects. The fact that the author has lived through these experiences with both of his parents gives him credibility and authority and the time and effort he has devoted to researching his subject matter is evident. Notes is easy to read and is written in a way that the average person will easily comprehend. Bart Windrum has done us all a great service by sharing his experiences and his expertise with the goal of making our inevitable journey down this path much easier.