Staying in Charge: Practical Plans for the End of Your Life

Practical, emotional, and spiritual guidance

The time may come when you or a loved one has to face a life-threatening illness; when you realize that you or your loved one may be dying. It’s never easy to think about the last years of life, but being prepared can help you have your hopes and wishes realized. By taking the time now to plan for the future, you can maintain control of your life even at the very end.

Staying in Charge is a supportive guide to opening up the lines of communication and making life more fulfilling from the first day of diagnosis of a serious illness. This reassuring handbook helps you to focus on important matters such as:

• Handling a living will or a do-not-resuscitate order
• Deciding upon medical power of attorney
• Gathering support from friends and family
• And, most significantly, learning to live in the midst of dying

Based on the wisdom of many experts and caregivers in the field, Staying in Charge offers everything you need to know to make the last years of life more fruitful, less isolating, and more comfortable and peaceful–whenever and wherever the journey occurs.

"Few of us think of our own death with an open heart or a clear mind. Kaplan and Lukas courageously and compassionately demystify this unknown part of life with practical and spiritual guidance. With Staying in Charge, the secret is out: You can plan for death and, in so doing, learn how to live more fully."

–Beth Witrogen McLeod, author of Caregiving: The Spiritual Journey of Love, Loss, and Renewal

"Staying in Charge: Practical Plans for the End of Your Life means what it says. When it comes time to manage a serious illness, we all want to be in control. There isn’t a person alive who shouldn’t read and absorb the counsel of this valorous–and unexpectedly cheering–work."

–Stefan Kanfer, former editor, Time magazine author of Ball of Fire and A Summer World

Intended for people who have been diagnosed with a chronic or life- threatening illness, this guide explains the American medical system's approach to dying and explores the emotional, physical, and spiritual problems a patient will need to confront. The authors suggest points to consider when writing advance directives and choosing a health care agent, coming to terms with death, and dealing with health crises.
Annotation ©2005 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Intended for people who have been diagnosed with a chronic or life- threatening illness, this guide explains the American medical system's approach to dying and explores the emotional, physical, and spiritual problems a patient will need to confront. The authors suggest points to consider when writing advance directives and choosing a health care agent, coming to terms with death, and dealing with health crises. Annotation ©2005 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

KAREN ORLOFF KAPLAN, M.P.H., Sc.D., is the President and CEO of Last Acts Partnership, a nonprofit membership organization that helps to improve care for people who are dying and raises awareness about how to obtain end-of-life care.

CHRISTOPHER LUKAS, author of Silent Grief, is an Emmy-winning television producer, director, and writer who specializes in films about end-of-life decision making.

He and Dr. Kaplan are the creators of the PBS program Whose Death Is It Anyway?

Introduction.

1. Why We Wrote This Book.

2. Obstacles to Good Care.

3. Thinking and Talking about Mortality.

4. Palliative Care.

5. The Facts about Hospice.

6. The ABCs of Advance Directives.

7. Choosing an Agent.

8. Being an Agent.

9. Matters of Mind and Spirit.

10. Caregivers.

11. Children and Serious Illness.

12. Nursing Homes.

13. When Crises Come.

14. DNRs and Assisted Dying.

15. Finances.

16. Give Grief a Chance.

17. Living with Dying.

Suggested Reading.

Resources.

Acknowledgments.

Index.