End of Life Care: Starter Resources
Modern medical technology has changed the way we experience serious illness and dying. We have more treatment choices, but they sometimes lead to unnecessary suffering. And how does our faith impact how we want to experience death? No matter our age or stage of life, learning about end of life issues can benefit us and our loved ones.
Unsure of where to start? Here are some books and articles that address the changing landscape of dying, medical technology, decision-making, and faith.
How Modern Medicine impacts Aging and Death
Being Mortal: Medicine and what Matters in the End by Atul Gawande
Hailing from Newton, MA, Dr. Gawande teaches at Harvard Medical School and School of Public Health as well as practicing surgery. He offers a vision of how medical practice could prioritize quality of life throughout the lifespan.
End of Life Decision-Making
The Town Where Everyone Talks Death reported by NPR, 3/5/14
This brief article provides a fascinating peek at what can happen when a community decides to get end of life discussions out in the open.
Aligning a Medical Treatment with God's Plan by Karen Kaplan for the L.A. Times, 3/18/2009
From a secular perspective, Ms. Kaplan explores how faith and spirituality affect end of life decision-making.
Honoring Choices Massachusetts
Ready to make a health care plan for you or a loved one? Honoring Choices MA provides information, tools, and legal forms to help you write down your treatment preferences. Having a written plan helps you get the medical treatment you prefer, from now until the end of life.
Perspectives from Christian Voices
When Prolonging Life Means Prolonging Suffering by Dr. Kathryn Butler for Christianity Today, 9/8/2016
Drawing from her experience as a trauma and critical care surgeon, Dr. Kathryn Butler shares her perspective on dying, medical technology, and faith in God. She asks us to reconsider some common viewpoints in light of Scripture. Dr. Butler resides north of Boston.
The Art of Dying: Living Fully into the Life to Come by Rob Moll
Rob Moll has worked as a journalist, hospice volunteer and with World Vision. Here, he reintroduces the Christian tradition of preparing for a “good death”. In this tradition death becomes a significant spiritual event for both individual and community.
Finishing Well to the Glory of God by Dr. John Dunlop
A specialist in geriatrics, Dr. Dunlop provides nine strategies for navigating the end of life. His strategies are based in both medical knowledge and Scripture. Dr. Dunlop also acknowledges and confronts the cultural limitations of writing as a white, middle-class Christian.
Take Action
Questions or comments on any of these resources?
Are you looking for information on a topic not addressed here?
Bethany Slack, MPH, MT, is the Public Health and Wellness research associate at EGC. Her passion is to see Jesus’ love translated into improved health and health justice for all, across the lifespan and across the globe.
![Barriers to Mental Health Care for Boston-Area Black Residents [Report]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57ff1c7ae58c62d6f84ba841/1518458267039-7WI3NJUWYJQKOQCYDWTK/pexels-photo-561654.jpeg)
