Death Interrupted: How Modern Medicine is Complicating the Way We Die --by Blair Bigham, MD

 Publisher: The Walrus Books (September 20, 2022)

Language: English

Paperback: 304 pages

ISBN-13: 978-1487008543

5 Stars

 

This is a fascinating read. I had a hard time putting it down. I do most of my reading horizontal in my bed, and I’d read until my eyes burned. This is memoir of an MD who is taking on all the hard topics families, doctors, and patients face in the ER, ICU, office, and home. 

 

I remember when pronouncement of death meant your heart stopped. Then, with transfer of organs, it became when the brain died. Then with all the technology, who knows? We can be kept alive, hooked to wires, tubes, and intubation for an indefinite period of time. But do we want to live like that? If you haven’t left the proper paperwork, your family may insist. The Courts may insist you be kept alive even if you wish to be declared “dead dead.” It takes work to die on your terms, find out how, and set the plans for all to read and respect.

 

One of the things that, for me, made this book so fascinating, is Dr. Bigham admits when he is/was wrong, and what is doing to change. In other words, the doctor is admitting he is human v. so many doctors who consider themselves God.

 

If you are dying, have close friends and family who are dying, or may someday die, I heartedly recommend this book. One of the best of the genre of death and dying I’ve yet to read.