The art of dying well : a practical guide to a good end of life

The art of dying well A practical guide to a good end of life

Katy Butler, 1949-

Book - 2019

"An inspiring, informative, and practical guide to navigating end of life issues, by a groundbreaking expert in the field and the New York Times bestselling author of Knocking on Heaven's Door. In the mid-1400s, an unnamed Catholic monk composed a popular self-help book called Ars Moriendi, or The Art of Dying. Written in Latin, this medieval death manual taught people how to navigate the trials of the deathbed, using simple rituals of repentance, reassurance, and letting go. Bestselling author and award-winning journalist Katy Butler argues that we have lost touch with the "art of dying" as practiced by our ancestors, yet we still hunger for rites of passage, and a sense of the sacred, especially in the important life... transitions of aging and dying. Butler has lectured at medical schools, and spoken with community and caregiving organizations across the country. Here she reveals what she has learned about dying in America today--and how to have a better end of life. We are coping with a medical system in disarray, in its approach to people who are aging, dying, or chronically ill. Butler argues that it's not about living as long as possible, it's about living as well as possible. Not only does our current system poorly serve our medical needs, it also crowds out any sense of the sacred. It's time to restore a sense of honor, and through exploring the stages of later life, sharing "good death" stories, as well as offering practical takeaways, The Art of Dying Well illuminates a path to a better end of life"--

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Subjects
Terminal care.
Death.
Self-help publications.
Genres
Self-help publications
Published
New York : Scribner, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc 2019.
Language
English
Main Author
Katy Butler, 1949- (author)
Edition
First Scribner hardcover edition
Physical Description
xi, 274 pages ; 24 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN
9781501135316
9781501135477
  • The lost art of dying
  • RESILIENCE: The wake-up call
  • Building reserves
  • Finding allies in preventive medicine
  • Weighing medical risks
  • Getting to know the neighbors
  • Knowing your medical rights
  • Caring for the soul
  • SLOWING DOWN: When less is more
  • Simplifying daily life
  • Finding allies in slow medicine, geriatrics, and a good HMO
  • Reviewing medications
  • Reducing screenings - Making peace with loss
  • ADAPTATION: A moment of truth
  • Mapping the future and making plans
  • Finding allies in occupational and physical therapy
  • Disaster-proofing daily life
  • Making a move
  • Practicing interdependence
  • Being an example
  • AWARENESS OF MORTALITY: The art of honest hope
  • Talking to your doctor
  • Understanding the trajectory of your illness
  • Preparing the family
  • Finding allies in palliative care
  • Reflecting on what gives your life meaning
  • Staying in charge
  • Thinking creatively
  • Redefining hope
  • HOUSE OF CARDS: If only someone had warned us
  • Recognizing frailty
  • Avoiding the hospital
  • Finding allies in House call programs
  • Upgrading advance directives
  • Coping with dementia
  • Shifting to comfort care
  • Enjoying your red velvet cake
  • PREPARING FOR A GOOD DEATH: Making good use of the time you have left
  • Finding allies in hospice
  • Next steps
  • Settling your affairs
  • Choosing the time of death
  • Loving, thanking, and forgiving - Getting help from your tribe
  • ACTIVE DYING: The tree needs to come down
  • This is what dying looks like
  • Preparing for a home death
  • Preparing in a nursing home
  • Giving care - The final hours
  • Humanizing a hospital death
  • Improvising rites of passage
  • Welcoming mystery
  • Saying goodbye
  • Toward a new art of dying.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Journalist Butler offers a straightforward, well-organized, nondepressing guide to managing the run-up to one's inevitable demise. Each chapter features different end-of-life-related themes and exemplary real-world anecdotes of how people cope with different age-related difficulties, with an emphasis on the mental as well as physical aspects of coping with old age and the associated infirmities. Butler's advice is commonsensical without being platitudinous or folksy. One point she particularly stresses is the wisdom of staying away from hospitals when possible. She uses vivid terms to illustrate her points, such as "House of Cards" to refer to a fragile state of health, "common in people in their nineties or in the mid to later stages of dementia." No doubt to the delight of nonagenarians everywhere, Butler's advice to them is not cautionary but rather to indulge in pleasurable activities as much as possible: what she calls "enjoying your red velvet cake." Free of platitudes, Butler's voice makes the most intimidating of processes-that of dying-come across as approachable. Her reasonable, down-to-earth tone makes for an effective preparatory guide to the permanent holiday upon which everyone eventually embarks. Agent: Amanda Urban, ICM. (Feb.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

The Art of Dying Well --CHAPTER 1-- Resilience The Wake-Up Call * Building Reserves * Finding Allies in Preventive Medicine * Weighing Medical Risks * Getting to Know the Neighbors * Knowing Your Medical Rights * Caring for the Soul Excerpted from The Art of Dying Well: A Practical Guide to a Good End of Life by Katy Butler All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

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