Living with Dying: Finding Care and Compassion at the End of Life

by Margaret McCartney

Our ageing population is a modern success story, and success brings problems. The new demographic is for people to die in old age, or extreme old age, but with multiple illnesses and diagnoses, and on a cocktail of medication. But where is the balance of medicine between curing and caring? Are we neglecting the wellbeing of the dying person in our desire to fight death at all costs?

Margaret McCartney, author of The Patient Paradox, takes a balanced look at the way we handle end of life care. She finds that medicine can harm as well as help, and that non-medical interventions can sometimes be more effective. She argues for a more compassionate and humane approach to the care of the dying which puts the needs of the individual first.

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Margaret McCartney is a GP in Glasgow, and has three children. She started writing for the press after being infuriated by an article in a newspaper which claimed that CT body screening was the way to stay well. Since then she has written for most UK newspapers, as well as the British Medical Journal (BMJ), other magazines such as Vogue and Prospect, has had columns in the Guardian and the FT Weekend, and is a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4’s Inside Health. She has won prizes from the Medical Journalists’ Association and the European School of Oncology, as well as the Healthwatch award.

She has a strong interest in evidence, professionalism, screening and risk. She blogs and tweets. The Patient Paradox is her first book

Reviews

[Alex Laycock · Rating 2 out of 5]

Amazon reviews were brilliant I found it " deathly" dull repetitive ,endless.... shelved before I finished which I rarely do