The Advocacy for a Peaceful Death
Description
This provides an extensive overview of the book, "Advocating for a Peaceful Death: Life's Final Choice," which promotes the concept of "peaceful death" or Heion-shi (natural death) over aggressive life-prolonging treatments for the elderly.
Written by a physician, the book argues that forcible nutrition, such as feeding tubes (gastrostomy) or excessive IV fluids, often causes more suffering, pneumonia, and complications for terminally ill, super-aged individuals who have naturally stopped eating. The central thesis is that when the body is ready for death, it no longer requires large amounts of nutrition, and continuing life support merely extends suffering, suggesting that families and medical staff should engage in advance care planning (ACP) to respect the patient's desire for a calm and natural end.
It details real-life cases from a special nursing home to illustrate the detrimental cycle of aggressive intervention and advocates for a shift in societal views on death and end-of-life care.
United States
