A Life Worth Living A Doctor's Reflections on Illness in a High-Tech Era [Paperback]

Critical illness is a fact of life. Even those of us who enjoy decades of good health are touched by it eventually, either in our own lives or in those of our loved ones. And when this happens, we grapple with serious and often confusing choices about how best to live with our afflictions.

A Life Worth Livingis a book for people facing these difficult decisions. Dr. Robert Martensen draws on decades of experience with patients and friends to explore the life cycle of serious illness. He connects personal stories with reflections on mortality, human agency, and the value of cutting-edge technology in caring for the critically ill. Timely questions emerge: To what extent should efforts to extend human life be made? What is the value of nontraditional medical treatment? How has the American healthcare system affected treatment of the critically ill? And finally, what are our doctors' responsibilities to us as patients, and where do those responsibilities end?

Using poignant case studies, Martensen demonstrates how we and our loved ones can maintain dignity and resilience in the face of life's most daunting circumstances.

Partly because it addresses one of the most critical, complex, and controversial issues of our time, this is an important book. It is also a highly readable, informative, even entertaining one . . .A Life Worth Livingis a book for any citizen concerned about the continued well-being of this country . . . [Martensen] has the eye for telling detail, the ear for dialogue, and the narrative drive of a good fiction writer; the scholarly judgment to put modern medicine in the context of a long and complex history; the professional experience of treating seriously ill patients; and finally a profound and compassionate understanding of what constituteshealth. William T. Hamilton, The Bloomsbury Review

Though it can be read in a single sitting,A Life Worth Living:A Doctor's Reflections on illnli