I had the great and terrible honor of being involved in the death of 7 people this month.

Attending to the dying is hard and exhausting work. Anyone who willingly accompanies the dying and their family’s needs during the final hours knows of what I speak.

I recently read a book that my fellow clinician’s may find valuable for additional resources and support. And for those of my non-clinical readers these resources will help when you are involved with loved ones as we all head towards the end of life.

The new book I recently finished is

“Journey’s End: Death, Dying and the End of Life” by Brewster and Nierenberg

In Journey’s End, many and varied collaborators write about death, dying, and the end of life. It analyzes how we attempt to deal with real life issues and circumstances, and how to proactively deal with them. Useful training, resource, and reference material is also included.

Issues discussed are – Do you want life support? Do you want interventions that may or may not have any benefit to your quality of life if you are in the hospital or in an accident? Do you want to be involved in planning your funeral, memorial, or celebration of life?

Happy Reading and Contemplating.