Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Natural Causes Katy Butler shows how, and I am profoundly grateful to her for doing so.

No, you won’t survive your death, but you can live until the very last moment without the pain and humiliation that inevitably accompany an overmedicalized dying process. 'Butler’s factual, no-nonsense tone is surprisingly comforting, as are her stories of how ordinary folks confronted difficult medical decisions.… Her thoughtful book belongs on the same shelf as Atul Gawande’s bestselling Being Mortal and Barbara Ehrenreich’s Natural Causes.' Read moreĬover: The Art of Dying Well, by Katy ButlerĪDDITIONAL PRAISE FOR KATY BUTLER AND The Art of Dying Well This “empowering guide clearly outlines the steps necessary to prepare for a beautiful death without fear” ( Shelf Awareness). This handbook of preparations-practical, communal, physical, and spiritual-will help you make the most of your remaining time, be it decades, years, or months.īased on Butler’s experience caring for aging parents, and hundreds of interviews with people who have successfully navigated our fragmented health system and helped their loved ones have good deaths, The Art of Dying Well also draws on the expertise of national leaders in family medicine, palliative care, geriatrics, oncology, and hospice. Butler explains how to successfully age in place, why to pick a younger doctor and how to have an honest conversation with them, when not to call 911, and how to make your death a sacred rite of passage rather than a medical event. Packed with extraordinarily helpful insights and inspiring true stories, award-winning journalist Katy Butler shows how to thrive in later life (even when coping with a chronic medical condition), how to get the best from our health system, and how to make your own “good death” more likely.

“A common sense path to define what a ‘good’ death looks like” ( USA TODAY), The Art of Dying Well is about living as well as possible for as long as possible and adapting successfully to change. This “comforting…thoughtful” ( The Washington Post) guide to maintaining a high quality of life-from resilient old age to the first inklings of a serious illness to the final breath-by the New York Times bestselling author of Knocking on Heaven’s Door is a “roadmap to the end that combines medical, practical, and spiritual guidance” ( The Boston Globe).

The Art of Dying Well by Katy Butler