Who wants to read about end of life care when the sun is shining? But isn’t that the best time to learn about it, quietly and when your emotions aren’t clouding your thinking?
This is without any doubt the best book I’ve read on end of life medical care. Dr Butler includes real life stories to illustrate the dilemmas and anguish of end of life decisions. She has had ten years experience as a surgeon in intensive care and describes with crystal clarity the difference between life support when there is hope of recovery, and providing comfort through the dying process when there isn’t. She writes of a daughter insisting that the equipment keeping her father’s organs alive be kept on, even though there was no hope of recovery, because she was praying for a miracle. What does the Bible have to say about times like these, and the decisions that have to be made?
The beautiful thing about this book – the thing that makes it unique and worth reading at any stage in one’s life – is that Dr Butler writes within a Christian context, gently unwrapping and applying the Scriptures to end of life circumstances and decisions. She touches on euthanasia, writing of the value of individuals’ lives to God. She’s is as knowledgeable about the Scriptures as she she is about the medical procedures.
It’s easy to read, and not at all depressing. For me, it emphasized the fact that there is so much more to us than our physical bodies, and that the best is yet to come! I think it could change many people’s attitudes to death and dying.
