33 Meditations on Death: Notes from the Wrong End of Medicine

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We all need to have conversation about what we want in the end and keep the conversation going with your family. Jarrett explains how we can ensure that our last years are comfortable and not a burden to us, the health care system and, most importantly, our loved ones. It is a bitter-sweet reflection of a life well lived but one that is courageous enough to face the realities of life and the human condition. Anything we prepare for is so much easier to handle than becoming overwhelmed due to our lack of tools to sort things out clearly. It is immensely readable and is both funny and poignant even though it covers very difficult and often avoided subjects; namely the fact that we all die, that old age can be grim and that death is not always the worst outcome.

It is a very thought-provoking, and often moving book, that reveals how modern medicine can sometimes prolong suffering for both the patient and the family.Bursting with empathy, common sense and humour, would that we could all be so fortunate as to have the author at our bedside when the time comes.

I have a plan in the end and won't be left suffering more needlessly because of lacking a NDR directive.Profound, provocative, strangely funny and astonishingly compelling, it is an impassioned plea that we start talking frankly and openly about death. David Jarrett's 33 Meditations, the fruit of forty years of professional experience with people at the end of their lives, is not only timely and important, but hugely enjoyable. We are all going to die, at some stage, and decisions we make will inform our declining years - from 25 years on. The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products.

If a doctor can perform an abortion or transgender operation I don’t understand why a patient can’t request an end of life assist. Old age and the end of life are things that we need to prepare for and discuss with our family members. I struggled a bit in the beginning and wondered if this was going to be another medical professional having a pop at the NHS and government and so on. This is reflected less in his observations - which are more evenhanded - than in his sweeping asides and unfortunately these do intrude given the subject matter of what is otherwise a thoughtful and interesting book about dying.

I am still working, albeit part time, as a consultant geriatrician and stroke physician on the south coast of England. I discovered this book after a guest speaker on a radio 4 programme mentioned it and thought I’d give it a go. I am naturally a little biased but this is a lovely book which highlights the simultaneous futility and the beauty of life.