Medicine has triumphed in modern times, transforming birth, injury, and infectious disease from harrowing to manageable. But in the inevitable condition of aging and death, the goals of medicine seem too frequently to run counter to the interest of the human spirit. Nursing homes, preoccupied with safety, pin patients into railed beds and wheelchairs. Hospitals isolate the dying, checking for vital signs long after the goals of cure have become moot....

Maybe it was a grandparent, or a teacher, or a colleague. Someone older, patient and wise, who understood you when you were young and searching, helped you see the world as a more profound place, gave you sound advice to help you make your way through it. For Mitch Albom, that person was Morrie Schwartz, his college professor from nearly twenty years ago. Maybe, like Mitch, you lost track of this mentor as you made your way, and the insights faded,...

Addresses the issue of mortality discussing how humans universally share a fear of death and examines the theories of leading thinkers on this subject including Freud, Rank, and Kierkegaard.

From the author of the groundbreaking book On Death and Dying comes an inspiring account of a life well-lived with compassion and service.
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, MD, is the woman who has transformed the way the world thinks about death and dying. Beginning with the groundbreaking publication of the classic psychological study On Death and Dying and continuing through her many books and her years working with terminally...

"Vivien Bearing is an English professor with a biting wit that educates but also alienates her students. With her teaching and life both rigidly under control, Vivian would never let down her defenses, until the day comes when they are taken down for her. Diagnosed with a devastating illness, Vivian agrees to undergo a series of procedures that are brutal, extensive and experimental. For eight months her life must take an uncharted course. No longer...

Caring for an ill husband has been seen as a "wifely duty." But when your husband has a long-term or life-threatening illness, making decisions can become overwhelming. Some marriages grow stronger, others disintegrate. Denholm draws on her own experiences and her work as a therapist to develop the tools and strategies she shares in this book.

"Advanced directives and living wills have improved our ability to dictate end-of-life care, but even these cannot guarantee that we will be allowed the dignity of a natural death. Designed by two sisters-one a doctor, one a lawyer-and drawing on their decades of experience, the five-step Compassion Protocol outlined in A Better Way of Dying offers a simple and effective framework for leaving caretakers concrete, unambiguous, and legally binding instructions...