Thomas A. Preston
Published: 2000
Total Pages: 276
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Medical science has cured scores of diseases and extended the human life span by decades. But it has also often turned the natural process of dying into an experience that is traumatic and painful not only to patients but to their loved ones as well.In Final Victory, Thomas A. Preston, M.D., a nationally known patients' rights advocate, arms readers with everything they need to know about taking charge of life's end and setting the stage for a peaceful, dignified death. Dr. Preston gives readers invaluable information on the dying process, the limits of modern medicine, and what living wills can and cannot accomplish. He describes which treatments reduce suffering, which prolong it, and how far doctors can legally go to eliminate pain.Readers will discover how to absorb a serious diagnosis, how to understand life-expectancy statistics, how to decide among treatment options, how to talk with their doctors and their loved ones, and how to take charge of the medical decisions that will profoundly affect them and those they will leave behind.