"A thoroughly researched and compelling mix of personal narrative and hard-nosed reporting that captures just how flawed care at the end of life has become" (Abraham Verghese,The New York Times Book Review). This bestselling memoir-hailed a "triumph" by The New York Times-ponders the "Good Death" and the forces within medicine that stand in its way. Award-winning journalist Katy Butler was living thousands of miles from her aging parents when the call came: her beloved seventy-nine-year-old father had suffered a crippling ...
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"A thoroughly researched and compelling mix of personal narrative and hard-nosed reporting that captures just how flawed care at the end of life has become" (Abraham Verghese,The New York Times Book Review). This bestselling memoir-hailed a "triumph" by The New York Times-ponders the "Good Death" and the forces within medicine that stand in its way. Award-winning journalist Katy Butler was living thousands of miles from her aging parents when the call came: her beloved seventy-nine-year-old father had suffered a crippling stroke. Katy and her mother joined the more than 28 million Americans who are shepherding loved ones through their final declines. Doctors outfitted her father with a pacemaker, which kept his heart going while doing nothing to prevent a slide into dementia, near-blindness, and misery. When he said, "I'm living too long," mother and daughter faced wrenching moral questions. Where is the line between saving a life and prolonging a dying? When do you say to a doctor, "Let my loved one go?" When doctors refused to disable the pacemaker, condemning her father to a lingering death, Butler set out to understand why. Her quest had barely begun when her mother, faced with her own grave illness, rebelled against her doctors, refused open-heart surgery, and met death the old-fashioned way: head-on. Part memoir, part medical history, and part spiritual guide, Knocking on Heaven's Door is a map through the labyrinth of a broken medical system. Technological medicine, obsessed with maximum longevity, is creating more suffering than it prevents. Butler chronicles the rise of Slow Medicine, a movement bent on reclaiming the "Good Deaths" our ancestors prized. In families, hospitals, and the public sphere, this visionary memoir isinspiring the difficult conversations we must have to light the path to a better way of death.
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Add this copy of Knocking on Heaven's Door: The Path to a Better Way of to cart. $1.04, good condition, Sold by Jenson Books Inc rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Logan, UT, UNITED STATES, published 2014 by Scribner Book Company.
Add this copy of Knocking on Heaven's Door: the Path to a Better Way of to cart. $1.07, very good condition, Sold by More Than Words rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Waltham, MA, UNITED STATES, published 2014 by Scribner Book Company.
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Very Good. . All orders guaranteed and ship within 24 hours. Your purchase supports More Than Words, a nonprofit job training program for youth, empowering youth to take charge of their lives by taking charge of a business.
Add this copy of Knocking on Heaven's Door: the Path to a Better Way of to cart. $2.34, very good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Atlanta rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Brownstown, MI, UNITED STATES, published 2014 by Scribner Book Company.
Add this copy of Knocking on Heaven's Door: the Path to a Better Way of to cart. $2.34, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Atlanta rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Brownstown, MI, UNITED STATES, published 2014 by Scribner Book Company.
Add this copy of Knocking on Heaven's Door: the Path to a Better Way of to cart. $2.34, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Reno rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Reno, NV, UNITED STATES, published 2014 by Scribner Book Company.
Add this copy of Knocking on Heaven's Door: the Path to a Better Way of to cart. $2.34, very good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Dallas rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2014 by Scribner Book Company.
Add this copy of Knocking on Heaven's Door: the Path to a Better Way of to cart. $2.34, very good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Baltimore rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Halethorpe, MD, UNITED STATES, published 2014 by Scribner Book Company.
Add this copy of Knocking on Heaven's Door: the Path to a Better Way of to cart. $2.34, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Dallas rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2014 by Scribner Book Company.
Add this copy of Knocking on Heaven's Door: the Path to a Better Way of to cart. $2.34, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Baltimore rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Halethorpe, MD, UNITED STATES, published 2014 by Scribner Book Company.
Add this copy of Knocking on Heaven's Door: the Path to a Better Way of to cart. $2.36, good condition, Sold by Blue Vase Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Interlochen, MI, UNITED STATES, published 2014 by Scribner Book Company.
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Seller's Description:
The item shows wear from consistent use, but it remains in good condition and works perfectly. All pages and cover are intact (including the dust cover, if applicable). Spine may show signs of wear. Pages may include limited notes and highlighting. May NOT include discs, access code or other supplemental materials.
I also bought copies to give to my 2 daughters so they'll have guidance when my husband & I become the very elderly. The book is excellent.
MorningReader
Mar 20, 2014
A Tough, but Important Read
After losing my own parents and then my in-laws. I remembered feeling very torn by how I'd like my last years on earth to be. Katy Butler offers great insight to being enmeshed in the medical system at a time when there is really no cure for dying. After telling her experiences, she offers suggestions for other avenues we can take instead of visits to the ER or nursing facilities. I'm keeping her book as a resource for me someday. At 65 I was happy to learn that it's okay to accept death and not prolong the dying.