2024 the best possible experience review

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A doctor on the front lines of hospital care illuminates one of the most important and controversial social issues of our time.

It is harder to die in this country than ever before. Though the vast majority of Americans would prefer to die at home—which hospice care provides—many of us spend our last days fearful and in pain in a healthcare system ruled by high-tech procedures and a philosophy to “fight disease and illness at all cost.”

Dr. Ira Byock, one of the foremost palliative-care physicians in the country, argues that how we die represents a national crisis today. To ensure the best possible elder care, Dr. Byock explains we must not only remake our healthcare system but also move beyond our cultural aversion to thinking about death. The Best Care Possible is a compelling meditation on medicine and ethics told through page-turning life-or-death medical drama. It has the power to lead a new national conversation.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Avery; 1st edition (March 5, 2013)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1583335129
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1583335123
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.6 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.4 x 0.73 x 8.2 inches
Reviewer: Lisa J. Shultz
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: How do you want to die?
Review: Ira Byock, MD has written another gem of a book. If you don't understand the power of palliative care to foster quality life, comfort at the end of life, and the prospect of gentle death, this book will illuminate you. Filled with patient stories that show how addressing death and working together to achieve a peaceful end of life is possible and can create healing and closure.The end of the book is a strong call to transform the way we die in America. The author feels that "How we die is already a public health crisis, and care of people through the end of life is poised to become a generation-long social catastrophe." He further states that "the way many Americans die remains a national disgrace."Dr. Byock writes with compassion and purpose. If you are willing to face the inevitable fact that you will one day die and that others might depend on you to make choices and decisions for them, this book is worth your time. It might even spark your desire to influence social change. Dr. Byock states that "For the magnitude of change that is needed to occur, social activism is necessary." Death unites us all.How do you want to die and do you deserve "The Best Care Possible"?

Reviewer: Serious reader
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Required reading
Review: I wrote "required reading" above because I believe this book deals with events that most people tend to ignore until it is too late. End of life issues. Unless you die in an accident or suicide, chances are you and/or your family will have to make decisions about what is to happen at the end of your life. This book explains in very easy to understand language what the issues and the options are. There are no hard and fast answers to these questions, but the author gives us a way to think about them by using many case histories and examples taken from his many years of experience. A thorough, compassionate discussion of how to prepare for the last phase of life for yourself and for those you love who may be in your care.Very worthwhile and highly recommended.

Reviewer: A. McCLure
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Immensely helpful
Review: I loved Dr. Byock's other book, Dying Well, and wanted to read this one also. To give you some backstory, I had no interest whatsoever in these types of issues until my mother died march 11, 2013. She was 69. She was in ICU for two weeks prior and admitted into hospice on March 9, 2013. Although she had a chronic illness (COPD) she had never been hospitalized before except when she was initially diagnosed in January 2010. As an only child and constant companion to my mother (she lived next door to me), everything that occurred over this two week period was a blur. I have obsessed over every decision I made, every detail of everything that was said to me in the ICU, etc. I needed reassurance that what I did was right. My mom was one of those who felt that hospice care was "giving up." I had to convince her to even enter the hospice program. While in the ICU, the palliative care nurse came to speak to me and informed me that my mom was "very fragile and very ill." She offered the in-hospital hospice or possibly at-home hospice if my mom could make it. I stated that my goal was to get her home to see her pets and grandchildren. She despised every minute of being in ICU.Much as Dr. Byock described, the mission of the ICU physicians was to treat, treat, treat. None of those physicians indicated anything other than telling me about the various tests, the results of the tests, and the next test to be performed. I would even ask point-blank, "Does a person survive these types of issues?" to which they would respond well, yes, they can. My biggest regret is that my mom didn't seem to clearly understand the severity of her situation. The palliative care team talked only to me about the seriousness of her condition. Although I was brutally honest with my mom, and she knew what going into hospice meant, I think she would have preferred to have the doctors tell her the truth.Hospice is the best thing that could have ever happened to my mom. When we arrived home on the 9th, all of the equipment was there, the oxygen concentrator, etc. On Sunday, I helped my mom bathe and we sat on her porch. There were no words left unsaid. Sunday night she slipped basically into a coma. Prior to, she requested that I assist her in dying; she stated "I am dying". I told her I couldn't do that and live with myself but I administered the morphine that hospice provided according to their dosage. From that point forward, she no longer seemed to be in pain. The following night, she died comfortably. She had started receiving continuous care from hospice after I called them terrified becuase I didn't know what to expect.All of the issues that came up in my mind were addressed in Dr. Byock's book. I absolutely love his case histories. Of course I was deperate to find a person with my mom's exact same problems (i.e. COPD, pneumonia, pleural effusion, low oxygen saturation, AFIB, etc.) but the portrait that I gathered from all of the patient histories and their symptomology helped me to know that my mom was dying, that I didn't cause her death, that bringing her back to the ER would have only prolonged her misery in the ICU with the mask vent that she hated. I am forever grateful for these books for easing my mind. I am grateful for the services provided by the local hospice. I have now developed an interest in these issues and hope to give back in some way as a hospice volunteer.I realize this review veered off course, but if you are searching for answers about your loved one's death or stay in the ICU or trying to decide about hospice, Dr. Byock's books are wonderful. Even if you do not feel your loved one is ready for hospice, I think you would be crazy to decline hospice services (I've read that COPD patients are rarely recommended for hospice becuase the nature of their illness is very unpredictable). The services they provide are invaluable and your loved one can graduate out of hospice if they are well enough to do so.

Reviewer: Jose Babu T J
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Great read for medical and non medical people who is dissatisfied with current end of life care practices. The book challenges you to be a warrior to ensure good end of life care to all fellow human beings.

Reviewer: Amazon Customer
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: In our death denying society, this book (amongst some others) is a good read to have. Of course if talking about death is your cup of tea. It’s definitely mine.