“It’s Okay to Die” – Book Review

Contributed by:
Dr. Michael Cruz, Vice President of Quality & Safety – OSF Saint Francis Medical Center

It seems that a reasonable place to start is at the end. There are few constants in this world such as entropy, God, change, and death. It’s Okay to Die by Dr. Monica Williams-Murphy addresses the last efficiently and allows the reader to understand the opportunity that we all have to help patients take the steps they need to die in a manner they desire.

It seems so simple and consistent with what we do in health care that it should be a no-brainer. The reality for many patients and their families is that they are isolated, in crisis, and engaged in a poorly informed decision making process that could be avoided.

Dr. Williams-Murphy and her husband, Kristian, help the reader understand how to set up a durable power of attorney, living will, advanced directives, Do-Not-Resuscitate (DNR) orders, and the new Physician Order for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST). These are critical nuts and bolts that any health care worker and person should have some working knowledge of depending on their role at work or in their family.

Dr. Williams-Murphy is an emergency physician, and she and her husband relate personal and professional real-life scenarios that are familiar to many of us. These experiences create the platform so we can improve how we engage our patients in important conversations about death.

The authors offer specific suggestions on how to address such sensitive topics as withholding diagnostic and therapeutic interventions, palliative care, comfort care measures, suffering, and terminal illness, while avoiding the discussion of euthanasia. They masterfully illustrate that clinicians may be reluctant to admit the medical profession can’t fix everything and how to educate the medical staff so they are able to have that conversation and obtain a clear understanding and direction based on the wishes of the patients and their families.

Finally, they dedicate several chapters to the problems created by our social and cultural aversion to death.  By avoiding critical conversations, clear communications, and direct patient engagement, we live in the outcomes we have created.

The authors are concise and to the point, so this was a quick and painless read.  I would highly recommend this book (I’d give it an 8 out of 10) and even categorize it as a must-read for sons, daughters, moms, dads, grandparents, health care workers, spouses, etc. – just about everybody who has parents minus Adam and Eve!

Last Updated: November 6, 2018