The guide to achieving the positive end-of-life experience you want and deserve, this second edition of Finish Strong by Barbara Coombs Lee, the President Emerita/Senior Adviser of Compassion & Choices, features valuable new material, including a new chapter called "Race and Culture Matter;" an Afterword by Kim Callinan, the President/CEO of Compassion & Choices; and a detailed index for the book.
It's hard to talk about death in America. But even though the topic has been taboo, life's end is an eventual reality.
So why not shape it to our values? Finish Strong is for those of us who want an end-of-life experience to match the life we've enjoyed. We know we should prepare, but are unsure how to think and talk about it, how to live true to our values and priorities, and how to make our wishes stick.
The usual advice about advance directives and conversations is important but woefully inadequate. This book describes concrete action in the here and now to help live our best lives to the end.
Finish Strong will guide you through:
- Finding a partner-doctor to honor your values and beliefs with humanity, deference and candor.
- Identifying what matters most as vigor wanes and stating your priorities.
- Having meaningful conversations with doctors and family about expectations and wishes.
- Staying off the "overtreatment conveyor belt."
- Knowing when "slow medicine" is the best option to maintain quality of life.
- Navigating hospice, the ultimate healing experience.
Written with candor and clarity by a nurse, physician assistant and attorney who became a leading advocate for end-of-life options, this book can help you Finish Strong.
Table of Contents:
Foreword by Haider Warraich, M.D.
Preface by Barbara Coombs Lee
A Note About the Second Edition
1. An Invitation
2. Talking About Death Won't Kill You (But It Could Improve Your Life)
3. Overtreatment and Diminishing Returns
4. Let Me Die Like a Doctor
5. Hope & Heroism
6. Hospice: The Healing Option
7. The Secret of Slow Medicine
8. Escaping Dementia
9. Inside a Growing Advocacy
10. Race and Culture Matter
11. People Taking Control
12. Space for the Sacred
13. It's Harder Than You Think (But You Can Do It)
Afterword by Kim Callinan, president and chief executive officer, Compassion & Choices
Appendix: Tools to Take Charge
Acknowledgments
About the Author
About Compassion & Choices
Notes on Sources
Index
BARBARA COOMBS LEE worked in healthcare as a clinician, policymaker and advocate for more than five decades. Her indelible bedside experiences forged a deep respect for individual values and beliefs and eventually led her to a career in law and health policy. For the past 25 years she has advocated for initiatives that allow individuals a full range of options and much greater agency in their healthcare decisions.Barbara's work in public policy culminated in her roles as chief executive officer and president of Compassion & Choices, the nation's oldest and largest organization working to empower everyone to chart their end-of-life journey. After serving in that capacity for 22 years, Barbara transitioned her role to President Emerita/Senior Adviser.Thousands of personal experiences and the teachings of scholars and thought leaders around the globe inform her perspective. Often quoted in the media, Barbara is a seasoned writer, speaker and commentator. Her previous book was Compassion in Dying: Stories of Dignity and Choice.Barbara's passion for transforming the end-of-life experience by informing and empowering patients infuses FINISH STRONG. She calls for all Americans to join a patient-driven movement to dismantle the institutional and cultural barriers to living well to the very end.She lives in Oregon.
