| Description |
296 pages ; 24 cm |
|
regular print |
| Summary |
Many of us have experienced an elderly loved one coming to the end of their life in a hospital, over-treated, infantilised and worst of all, facing death with no dignity at all. A huge majority of people at the end of their lives want to die at home, but only a small number manage to do this. This vital book asks why. Professor Ken Hillman has worked in intensive care since its inception. But he is appalled by the way ICU has become a place where the frail, soon-to-die and dying are given unnecessary operations and life-prolonging treatments without their wishes being taken into account and with their families being herded into making decisions that are not to the benefit of the patients. A Good Life to the End will embolden and equip us to ask about the options that doctors in hospital should offer us but mostly don't. It lets us know that there is another, gentler option for patients and their loved ones which is much more sympathetic to the final wishes of most people facing the end of their lives. An invaluable support for the elderly as well as their families, and a rallying cry for anyone who's had to witness the unnecessary suffering of a loved one, A Good Life to the End will spark debate, challenge the status quo and change lives |
| Analysis |
Australian |
| Notes |
Ken Hillman is a practising intensive care specialist who is a Professor of Intensive Care at the University of New South Wales. He trained at St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney and worked in London for 6 years before returning to Australia as Director of Intensive Care at Liverpool Hospital in Sydney. Professor Hillman is internationally recognised as a pioneer in the introduction of the Medical Emergency Team which recognises and responds to seriously ill hospital patients early in their deterioration, which has been adopted in the majority of hospitals in the United Kingdom, United States of America and several European countries. He is working closely with the Clinical Excellence Commission on rolling out the Medical Emergency Team to every hospital in New South Wales. He is also passionate advocate of improving the management of the dying patient in acute hospitals |
| Subject |
Aging.
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Critically ill -- Care -- Moral and ethical aspects.
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Death.
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Hospice care.
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Life and death, Power over -- Decision making.
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Life and death, Power over -- Moral and ethical aspects.
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Medical ethics.
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Older people -- Family relationships.
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Older people -- Health and hygiene.
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Older people.
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Critically ill -- Care.
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Palliative treatment.
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Palliative treatment -- Moral and ethical aspects.
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Quality of life.
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Right to die.
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Terminal care facilities.
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Terminal care -- Moral and ethical aspects.
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Terminal care.
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Quality of life -- Moral and ethical aspects.
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Terminally ill -- Care -- Moral and ethical aspects.
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Terminally ill -- Care.
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Terminally ill -- Family relationships.
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Ethics, Medical.
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Terminal Care.
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| ISBN |
1760294810 |
|
9781760294816 |
|
