Diane Rehm Show: A Better Death & The 1/4 Of All Medicare Expense In Life's Last Year

Joe Takach kisses Lillian Landry in this Oct. 30, 2009 photo, as she spends her last days in the hospice wing of an Oakland Park, Fla hospital. She made her end-of-life decisions, listing how she wanted to spend her last time and how she wanted to be buried. Democrats in the U.S. House are trying to nudge more Americans to make their end-of-life decisions.

Katy Butler: "Knocking On Heaven's Door: The Path To A Better Way Of Death"

Audio File: http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2013-11-11/katy-butler-knocking-heavens-door-path-better-way-death

November 11, 2013

Nearly a quarter of Medicare's $550 billion annual budget pays for medical treatment in the last year of life. And almost a third of Medicare patients have surgery in their last month of life. But when people are fully informed about the risks of many life-prolonging procedures, they often decide against them. That's what happened to a woman in Connecticut. After the devastating experiences her husband went through following a stroke, she refused major heart surgery for herself. In a new book, the couple's daughter -- a journalist -- tells their story and offers advice for us all.

Guests

Katy Butler 

journalist whose articles have appeared in The New Yorker, The Best American Science Writing, The Best American Essays and The Best Buddhist Writing.

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Knocking on Heaven's Door: The Path to a Better Way of Death

Read An Excerpt

Excerpted from KNOCKING ON HEAVEN’S DOOR: The Path to a Better Way of Death by Katy Butler. Copyright © 2013 by Katherine Anne Butler. Excerpted with permission by Scribner, a Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.