A Death Prolonged: Answers to difficult end-of-life issues like code status, living wills,do not resuscitate, and the excessive costs of terminal ... that leads to suffering and financial waste.
"As a hospitalist, Dr. Gordon has had many opportunities to observe the agonies of a bad death -- one in which patients failed to leave adequate instructions for how they should be treated when therapy for their disease is no longer helping."Jane Brody, New York Times Columnist and author ofJane Brody's Guide to the Great Beyondand other books.  --New York Times, Science Times, August 17, 2009"As a hospitalist, Dr. Gordon has had many opportunities to observe the agonies of a bad death -- one in which patients failed to leave adequate instructions for how they should be treated when therapy for their disease is no longer helping."Jane Brody, New York Times Columnist and author ofJane Brody's Guide to the Great Beyondand other books. --New York Times, Science Times, August 17, 2009 --New York Times, August 17, 2009"Dr. Gordon practices what he preaches by getting patients, as well as their families, to talk about what they want at the end of life while they still can, and he tries to make both patients and families aware of realistic rates of recovery." --Betty Rollin, PBS Religion and Ethics NewsWeekly and Author ofFirst You Cry"I found reading it to be not only educational, but also engrossing and moving." --Peter Singer, Professor of Bioethics, Princeton University and author ofThe Life You Can Saveand many other publications."A Death Prolongedis a fictional, fast-paced portrayal of very real problems that health care professionals and patients face every day. End-of-life situations are poorly managed today, and Dr. Gordon suggests several measures that could lead to substantial change. He presents a compelling case for the need to reallocate many health care dollars, spent ineffectively at the end of life, to far more-effective prevention and treatment options." --Charles A. Bush, M.D., Medical Director, The Ohio State University, Richard M. Ross Heart Hospital"Death either comes too soon or too late; seldom on time.A Death Prolongedaddresses how we can plan ahead with our patients, clients, parishioners, friends and family to ease the burden when death comes. Dr. Gordon uses a story to dramatize case histories that enlighten the various ethical, legal, and practical problems regarding end-of-life decisions. You will find this book hard to put down once you open to Chapter One." --Robert L. Wrenn, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus in Psychology, University of ArizonaDr. Jeff Gordon understands the value of communication and education among health care professionals, patients, and family/surrogate to address end-of-life care. The unique skills needed for this type of care are taught primarily at the bedside, but this book provides a platform for learning in an academic setting.A Death Prolongedshould be mandatory reading for all students in health care professions, including pharmacy, nursing, and medicine." --Warren L. Wheeler, M.D., Medical Director, Palliative Medicine Nathan Adelson Hospice, Las Vegas, Nevada