Life Worth Living: A Doctor's Reflections on Illness in a High-Tech Era
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Critical illness is a fact of life. Even those of us who enjoy decades of good health are touched by it eventually, either in our own lives or in those of our loved ones. And when this happens, we grapple with serious and often confusing choices about how best to live with our afflictions.A Life Worth Living is a book for people facing these difficult decisions. Dr. Robert Martensen draws on decades of experience with patients and friends to explore the life cycle of serious illness. He connects personal stories with reflections on mortality, human agency, and the value of cutting-edge technology in caring for the critically ill. Timely questions emerge: To what extent should efforts to extend human life be made? What is the value of nontraditional medical treatment? How has the American healthcare system affected treatment of the critically ill? And finally, what are our doctors’ responsibilities to us as patients, and where do those responsibilities end?Using poignant case studies, Martensen demonstrates how we and our loved ones can maintain dignity and resilience in the face of life’s most daunting circumstances. Publishers Weekly A physician, medical historian and bioethicist, Martensen pulls no punches: beyond the marvels of modern medical technology "lies a treacherous morass of ethical, moral and spiritual dilemmas most of us are not ready to even consider: whether to opt for aggressive treatments, when to stop them, and how to die "well." Too often the choice of aggressive treatment and heroic measures becomes an extended "death by intensive care"' in grim hospital units designed more like prisons than places of healing. Thoughtful and compassionate, Martensen narrates poignant case studies, such as that of Marguerite, who undergoes ineffective surgeries and drug trials for advanced breast cancer but has debilitating side effects. The author lays blame across the board, from patients with unrealistic expectations and doctors who don't explain treatment options fully, from profit-driven hospitals to an insurance bureaucracy that spurns routine health maintenance. Martensen makes his case with clear, compelling writing that never flinches from his conclusion that some things you just can't "win the battle against"; you can only hope for quality of life until the end. (Sept.)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
