Hard Choices for Loving People: CPR, Artificial Feeding, Comfort Care, and the Patient with a Life-Threatening Illness, 5th Ed. Paperback – July 1, 2009

gives a lot of situations and then some good advise to help that situation. easy to read.

I gave it a four because I haven't read the entire book. A social worker at my mother's nursing home lent us a copy when my 95-year-old mother, who had some moderate dementia, was having repeated episodes of illness (pneumonia, flu, etc.) that were weakening her and making it harder and harder to get her to eat. She had long expressed that she wished to pass on, but accepted that it was in God's hands. We knew her wishes, but tried to keep her fed until the end was obvious. A nurse close to Mother had privately advised us that to put in a feeding tube would probably not be a good idea for her and that we would later face the question of removing it. This book explained the process in greater detail, and who might or might not benefit from it. I believe it addressed it, too, for the patient with dementia. There is no definitive answer, but this reaffirmed our decision not to use the feeding tube in our circumstance. We found it helpful and it guided us in what defined merciful care. I bought this copy to pass on to another family member in a distant state facing even harder choices with a family member not nearly as old as Mother was.

"The generations alive today are the first generations faced with making such difficult choices about potentially life-prolonging medical decisions." (p. 6) As a hospital chaplain, the author has 30 years of experience ministering to patients at the end of their lives. He first wrote this small booklet to give to patients & families as a source of information about medical treatments & choices. The 5th edition (2009) here has been expanded to 80 pages.After an introduction which discusses the goals of medical care, the 5 chapters are 1. Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation; 2. Artificial Hydration & Nutrition; 3. Cure Sometimes--Comfort Always: Hospice, Palliative Care, & the "Comfort Care Only" Order; 4. Treatments to Consider--Practical Help for Decisionmaking; & 5. The Journey to Letting Be.Clicking to Look Inside at the old-fashioned Table of Contents allows us to see not only the chapter headings, but also the contents of each chapter.Dunn presents the pros & cons of these medical treatments in clear, simple language. I am grateful to learn this info. before I have an urgent need for it.

I loved this book for courageously and compassionately "laying it on the line" about end of life decisions. It is eye-opening rather than depressing to read. I pounced on this book when I found it at a health providers office. It was extremely welcome, because I had tried and failed to get anything but vague summary information from medical and legal sources. Finally, here are the straight forward details and likely outcomes for each individual life-extending option. This book gave me the information I needed to refine my advance directive. I even bought additional copies to give to my loved ones so they will understand the reasons behind my wishes and not feel guilty about withholding care. I recommend it to anyone writing an advance directive, and to health practices and hospitals who want their patients to be more informed.

This short (75 pages), informative book by Hank Dunn, a healthcare chaplain, presents clear and concise answers to the families of those nearing death. He notes that prior generations did not have feeding tubes, ventilators or CPR – so they were not faced with the choices facing many today as they age. He describes the issues in using these, pro and con, and offers clear steps to choosing the best route in a particular situation. The final chapter The Journey to Letting Be (23 pages) is the most valuable. This can be helpful to families as well as the person who is dying. He notes, “We will die whether we give up, let go or let be.” He hopes dying patients will have “a sense of being upheld by a loving God.”

This book contains the most useful information in dealing with a pending death in the family. The author covers the essential information as well as the most important consideration of letting go and letting the love one die with comfort care. The guilt of trying to continue save an person with more tests and agressive treatments when they are near death is discussed and lets the reader decide a course of action. After reading this book we decided to let go and provide comfort care for a 94 year old mother,grandmpther, great-grandmother. We shared the book with the close relatives so they would have some understanding of this end of life process. An excellant book, would highly reccommend as a resouce.

It's hard to say that I "loved" a book about death and dying, but for anyone facing difficult end of life decisions, this book is an excellent reference. My husband's hospice counselor gave me the book, then I gave my copy to my husband's son to help explain some of our decisions. I got another one when my cousin's father went to hospice. I heard it was available on Amazon, and so have purchased several to have available for anyone other loved ones that find themselves in similar situations. It addresses many questions that I had from a Christian perspective.

This book was recommended by a wonderful Social Worker who took the time to explain that many decisions we make in our daily lives are not perhaps as difficult as those we are to make in helping our loved ones who are on a life ending journey. Although I am not a seriously religious person, and have often questioned why God has allowed us to go through so much "pain and suffering" in our lives, this book has opened my eyes and I can now see the clearer picture of life beginning and life ending. I feel I can now accept my role and help my husband on his life ending journey without pain and suffering.

For anyone who has someone they love who has terminal illness, this is a great book. It should be made mandatory reading. I work in a Care Home and it has helped me when I have difficult conversations ahead of me. It was a great read... only 75 pages. I read it from cover to cover in one evening.Excellent, compassionately written and well founded in evidence-based practice.

A must read someday we will all need to think about this