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The good death : a guide for supporting your loved one through the end of life
2025
Where is it?
Fiction/Biography Profile
Genre
NonFiction
Self-help
Health, Mind and Body
Topics
Caregivers
Death
Fear
Communication
Large Cover Image
Trade Reviews
Library Journal Review
This title joins a growing number of books emphasizing the importance of death planning. Death doula O'Brien (Creating Positive Passings) has witnessed many deaths in her career. She states correctly that many contemporary societies have a flawed relationship with death and that planning for one's inevitable demise is a gift to family members. Her book presents advice on how to plan for death that can provide peace of mind to everyone involved in an end-of-life situation. It offers information to family caregivers on providing compassionate home hospice care while avoiding burnout and what to expect during the dying process. In addition to addressing the medical aspects of dying, O'Brien includes guidelines on how to prepare for the practicalities of death, such as burial choices, funeral planning, and obituary writing. She also discusses fundamental financial and legal topics associated with death planning, including wills, advanced directives, trusts, and more. The book includes helpful downloadable handouts and exercises to facilitate particular tasks. VERDICT This essential guide to every aspect of dying, from hospice care to spiritual and real-world needs, can also serve as an excellent manual for readers seeking support throughout this difficult process.--Erica Swenson Danowitz
Publishers Weekly Review
O'Brien draws on her work as a hospice nurse and death doula in her compassionate debut guide to end-of-life care. Exploring modern discomfort with death, she argues that scientific advances have "medicalized" dying, eroding its humanity as patients are funneled through a health system that "keeps people breathing at all costs" without accounting for their quality of life or discussing what to expect at the end. She unpacks how best to navigate that system by detailing the stages of common end-of-life diseases like lung cancer, how to interpret pain cues to keep the patient comfortable, and how to help them formulate advance directives. More broadly, she advises readers on how to assist the dying person in sorting through weighty emotions, reviewing financial arrangements for the funeral, and drawing up a will. Such advice is worthwhile, and O'Brien's anecdotes about caring for the dying are reassuring, even if she stumbles into generalizations in a less helpful chapter on how spirituality manifests at the end of life. Still, caregivers seeking practical and emotional support will find plenty of value. (Mar.)
Summary
INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER



"A must-read for every family caregiver." ― Hospice Nurse Julie, New York Times bestselling author o f NOTHING TO FEAR



Practical wisdom and holistic planning to ease life's most difficult transition, from an acclaimed hospice nurse, death doula, and end-of-life educator.



Many of us have to show up for someone we love at the end of life. Knowing how to do that changes everything. With over twenty years of experience as a hospice nurse, palliative care professional, and founder of the Doulagivers Institute, Suzanne B. O'Brien, RN has trained more than 350,000 people in what can be done to help the dying person, caregiver and other loved ones so they may move through each stage with as much comfort and ease as possible.



In The Good Death , O'Brien provides a comprehensive plan and the empowering knowledge to make a beautiful, sacred, and profound experience for everyone involved. Through practical advice, emotional support, and expert insights, O'Brien gently holds your hand through every aspect of the process, including:



· Learning how fear of death makes end of life harder, and how we can begin to quell it

· Care instructions to ensure your loved one's comfort

· Support system strategies to avoid burnout as a caregiver



To further empower you in facilitating a good death, the second half of the book is presented workbook-style. The Peace of Mind Planner features prompts to initiate important conversations with your loved one about their physical, mental, emotional, financial, and spiritual preferences, and space to record this important information. The planner allows you to be fully present in these last precious moments, and come away with a thorough plan for your loved one's end- of- life wishes. With empathy and a careful approach, The Good Death is not only a comprehensive, compassionate, and in-depth resource, it is a beacon of hope and support.
Table of Contents
Introduction3
Part 1Facilitating a Good Death
1We Become Less Fearful of the Unknown When We Embrace What Is Known17
2Preparing for Longer Lifespans: The Elder Care Crisis35
3How to Care for Someone Who Is Dying: The Three Phases of End of Life51
4Dealing with Common Diseases at End of Life68
5How Caregivers Can Avoid Burnout92
6The Rebirth of Death105
7Keeping Death Green: How Our Funeral and Burial Choices Impact the Planet120
Part 2The Peace of Mind Planner
8A Physical Good Death139
9A Mental Good Death162
10An Emotional Good Death174
11A Financial Good Death191
12A Spiritual Good Death206
Epilogue: Death as a Sacred Experience218
Acknowledgments229
Glossary231
Appendix AProlonged Grief Disorder237
Appendix BWhat to Say to Someone Who's Grieving239
Appendix CYour Loving Reminder Checklist to Heal from Grief241
Appendix DHow to Talk to Kids About Death245
Resources247
Notes249
Index253
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