 | By: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Binding: Paperback Publisher: Simon & Schuster ISBN: 0684839369 ISBN-13: 9780684839363 Released: 23 Jun 1997 RRP: Average Rating:  |
The first chapter "House Callls & Hospital Callls: The challlenge to hear our patients". I see this as essentiallly two parts, the first about 40 pages discusses the stages that people go through when dying & about discussing the topic of death. It includes examples where patients were ready to talk about the possibility of their death & those that weren't. The second part about a dozen pages long focuses on children & their understanding of what is happening, or going to happen to them. This chapter is very well written & considering the subject matter, it is hard to put down. The book uses accounts of real people which flow together very quickly making you want to continue to read to hear about the next person.
The second chapter "The Use of Drawings Made at Significant Times in One's Life", is in my opinion far less useful, but that may be my personal scepticism. The chapter is written by Gregg M Furth & is about 30 pages long. It uses example pictures from patients & attempts to deduce information about them. Whilst I believe it's possible to get an overview of a persons thoughts through looking at pictures they draw, this goes much further examining in a lot of detail individual components & drawing style. Whilst convincing in some areas, I can't help but think some of the conclusions could be a result of the patients drawing skills or drawing style. This chapter manages to reinforce my scepticism by suggesting a link between the number of shapes or flowers in a picture relating to how long before they died. I personallly find it hard to believe that this "Sixth Sense" is real, rather than just a coincidence that is created by trying to read too much into the picture.
The third chapter "Parent Care: Total Involvement in the care of a Dying child", is written by Martha Pearse Elliot & is about 60 pages long. This is a very moving chapter using the authors personal experience of their own dying child along with that of other parents in similar situations. Whilst highly emotional I expect this would be very useful for a parent of a child with a terminal illness. This is the longest chapter specificallly focused on dying children. This means it is particularly relevant for parents of dying children, but has little direct relevance for dying adults.
Finallly chapter four "The Issue of Sudden Death" is written by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross. It is fairly short at less than 20 pages long, but adequately covers the subject. This chapter takes the form of an interview between Elisabeth Kubler-Ross & an emergency-room employee. It discusses both the point of view seen by the hospital staff in their attempt to save the life, & the needs of the patients family, both whilst fighting for life in the emergency-room (Accident & Emergency dept.), & immediate needs after the fight for life has ended.
In general a good book that uses examples & emotional text to explain about the process of death & dying & how to communicate with the dying person. I found the second chapter less useful, but the rest of the book compensates for this quite well. How useful this book is would depend upon the person reading this book. If it is an adult that is dying or the relative of a dying adult then most likely only the first pages will be of interest. For the parent of a dying child then most of the book will be of interest.
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