A good life to the end : taking control of our inevitable journey through ageing and death / Ken Hillman.

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.