Hospice Palliative Care Book Reviews &
The Palliative Care Book of the Month
Dr. Woodruff, MD
(Australia)
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Book of the Month
LIVING WITH A SERIOUSLY ILL CHILD
Dr. Jan Aldridge
Sheldon Press, 2007
128 pp
ISBN 0859699471
RRP £7.99, $US11.58.
How can a mother respond when her 13-year-old son suddenly asks, seriously, ‘Mum, I am dying, aren’t I?’
How is it possible to cope when your child has a life-threatening or terminal illness? Dr. Jan Aldridge, a practising Clinical Psychologist at Martin House Children’s Hospice in the UK, brings her wealth of experience and insight to this little book.
Aldridge starts by explaining that no two children, or parents, or siblings are identical and that there is no one-size-fits-all method to fix the problems that surround such illnesses and that each must be treated individually. Written in a soothing and conversational style, with plenty of little clinical anecdotes, she goes on to describe how different children may approach treatment in different ways and why. She explores the approach of different types of parents to the child’s fears and concerns, how they make seemingly impossible decisions, and how to sustain adult relationships as well as parenting of other siblings.
This clearly written book will provide any parent grappling with their child’s life-threatening or terminal illness not only with great comfort, but also with insight and direction.
But I thought there was more to this book than just being an aid to distressed parents. Although written about sick children and their families, I couldn’t help relating to what was being said about psychological and social difficulties to my practice in adult palliative care
‘…but at times I think denial is under-rated as a useful strategy. It allows you a break in which to pause, regain your breath and take in the rainbow of overwhelming emotions that have swamped you, before deciding what the next best step for yourselves and your children may be. However, it is not a permanent solution; it can only provide temporary respite along the journey.’
I think that any palliative care professional who reads and reflects on this book will have richer insight into the psychological and social problems that abound in our work.
And how can the mother respond? Don’t answer the question, but use it to start a conversation.
‘You might pause and gently say, ‘What makes you ask me that?”’
Royalties from this wonderful book will go to Martin House Children’s Hospice.
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Roger Woodruff
Director of Palliative Care, Austin Health, Melbourne, Australia
(April 2007)
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Book Reviews
FORCED EXIT
Euthanasia, Assisted Suicide and the New Duty to Die
Wesley J. Smith
Encounter Books, 2005
308pp ISBN 1-59403-119-3
RRP $US17.95, £15.50
Originally published in 1997, this edition has been up-dated to mid-2005 by American attorney and euthanasia expert, Wesley Smith. He describes the progress of the euthanasia juggernaut, which he describes as a death fundamentalism, and warns against the gradual decay of essential human values. The movement has changed from using the term euthanasia to ‘Aid in dying’, or ‘Deliverance’, or ‘Gentle landing’. Individualism, Choice and Control are the buzzwords. He discusses the deeds of Jack Kevorkian and Australia’s Philip Nitschke, the latter involving the infamous case of Nancy Crick. Said to be suffering from terminal cancer, hers was to be a widely publicized suicide, loudly applauded by the advocates of euthanasia, but at autopsy she didn’t have cancer or any other serious physical illness.
In the next chapter, he goes on to argue that we are creating a caste of disposable people. Nancy Curzon and Terri Schiavo feature here. The question boils down to whether or not life should be preserved for life’s sake, but I worry that after 10 or 15 years of persistent vegetative state, we might be guilty of prolonging suffering.
Smith then turns his sights on the Germans and describes how euthanasia was alive and well long before the Nazis came to power. He draws some worrying comparison with present trends. In his chapter on Dutch practices, which he describes as something much steeper than a slippery slope, he attempts to show how the rules (and now the legislation) were drawn up to legitimize behaviour.
Smith fervently believes that euthanasia betrays the morality inherent in medicine and says that euthanasia together with profit-driven Health Maintenance Organisations, with their emphasis on controlling costs by limiting services, make a deadly combination.
In the final chapter, Smith argues the pros and cons of creating a ‘right to die’ based on three questions.
- Is there a deep and dividing need for this proposed revolutionary change that cannot be met through other means?
- Are the expected benefits of the change worth the foreseeable risks of the change?
- Would the change be progress?
This is a well-written, thoughtful and provocative book. Perhaps a touch over-dramatic in places but the ‘no holds barred’ approach appealed to me.
****
LET THEM GO FREE
A Guide to Withdrawing Life Support
Thomas A. Shannon and Charles N. Faso, O.F.M.
Georgetown University Press, 2007
61pp ISBN 1-58901-140-6
RRP $US 6.95 £3.50
This little guide is written to help people facing decisions about taking a loved one off life support. Written by an emeritus professor of religion and social ethics from the UK (TS) and a Franciscan friar and Catholic priest from Chicago, Illinois (CF), it clearly sets out the steps that have to be taken. It is written simply and in a very warm and supportive manner. It also includes an ecumenical prayer service, with a variety of readings and prayers from Hebrew and Christian scripture, which could be used before life support is withdrawn.
****
END-OF-LIFE DECISION MAKING
A Cross-National Study
Robert H. Blank and Janna C. Merrick (Eds)
MIT Press, 2005
266 pp ISBN 0262524732
RRP $US16.00, £9.95.
This is a collection of expert reports on end-of-life issues from twelve disparate countries – Brazil, China, Germany, India, Israel, Japan, Kenya, the Netherlands, Taiwan, Turkey, the UK and the USA – representing East and West, developed and developing countries. The topics covered in each chapter include health care costs, where people die, the use of advance directives, the cut-off point for aggressive care, and policies regarding euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide, allowing the reader to make comparisons. Particularly interesting is the influence that history, culture and religion bring to care of the dying and, in more recent times, the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Many interesting questions are raised. Have structural adjustments mandated by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, that place more emphasis on curative care than on public health programs, actually reduce the standard of health care in places like Kenya? As is to be expected, the quantity and quality of the data varied widely across the spectrum of countries.
Needless to say, I read the chapter on the Netherlands with keen interest. Overall, ten Have provides a balanced discussion but to argue that euthanasia is controversial and not an established practice does not sit well with all the data that has come out of Holland in the last 20 years. And for the Dutch government to insist that the law does not legalise active euthanasia, but merely provides a punishment exclusion ensuring that physicians will not be prosecuted. That doesn’t really wash, either.
But I came away with a new word. Dysthanasia is a Brazilian term for the unnecessary prolongation of life, at all costs, when death is unavoidable.
****
HEARTSONGS IN THE KEY OF C
Women Writing About Breast Cancer
Kate Carey Productions, 2006
265 pp ISBN 0-9775529-0-X
Available at www.overthefencepress.com.au/katecarey
RRP $AUS 24.95
This is a collection of heart-felt experiences of forty-four women affected by breast cancer. The women are all from the rural regions of the state of Victoria in Australia and in addition to the indignities of breast cancer they have to travel long distances to get treatment and endure separation from their families. Like its sister volume, Armed with Chocolate Frogs, (also produced by Breast Cancer Network Australia), it contains poignant anecdotes of what is really going on in the hearts and minds of ordinary women affected by this disease. Comparing the two volumes, the women who wrote Chocolate Frogs all had advanced disease and their reflections might have been sharper. For women with breast cancer and those close to them, this book will provide much comfort. For those of us who work in palliative care, it is a reminder to pay better attention to the person who happens to be the patient.
****
THE JUDAS KISS
Robin Rickards
Trafford Publishing, 2004
188 pp ISBN 141202468-4
RRP $US19.00.
This book turned up when I asked Amazon.com to show me a list of new titles in palliative care. Written by a Canadian orthopedic surgeon, it’s a tale of the pharmaceutical industry’s pursuit of the elusive seed that brings the promise of immortality. It’s a tale about life and death told by a dying man to the only woman who can share his torment. Some of the injuries survived high in the Andes perhaps require a leap of faith (even for an orthopedic surgeon), but I enjoyed it.
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Roger Woodruff
Director of Palliative Care, Austin Health, Melbourne, Australia
(April 2007)
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Procedure to submit a book for review:
If you would like to have a book reviewed and included in the IAHPC bookshop, please send a copy to the IAHPC Bookshop Editor:
Dr. Roger Woodruff
IAHPC Bookshop Editor
210 Burgundy Street Suite 9
Heildberg, Victoria 3084
AUSTRALIA
Note: Books sent to our bookshop editor become property of IAHPC and the review may take some time to appear in the Newsletter. Only books related to palliative care and with an ISBN number will be reviewed. Others will be discarded. Thank You!
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