Kathryn Mannix. 2017. William Collins. 323p
Mannix is a palliative care doctor in the UK and her book relates graphic, touching and ‘ordinary’ stories of her experience with various patients at the end of their lives, with sensitive and perceptive explanations that do not spare any physical and emotional details.
Her style is humane and without sensationalization, her philosophy to enable “people to be architects of their own solution is key to respecting their dignity. They are only in a new phase of life; they have not abdicated personhood.”
And, “At birth and at death, we are privileged to accompany people through moments of enormous meaning and power; moments to be remembered and retold as family legends and, if we get the care right, to reassure and encourage future generations as they face these great events themselves.”
The book provides insights, without prescription, into the death and dying of many different people, gently considering many of the ethical and professional issues and dilemmas facing members of the accompanying medical and care professions.
The subtitle to the book is ‘How to Live and Die Well’, and Mannix muses, “the evidence is that we all reach the end of our lives with a mixture of satisfaction and regret over our experiences – and the time to adjust that balance is now. Every moment of our lives is ‘now’ as we live it. So what can we do that adjusts the balance towards satisfaction and away from regret, even while we are not anticipating the approach of death?”
