After the End/ Clare Mackintosh/ 390 pgs

This book is one of the most emotional and sad books I've read in a long time, which made it difficult to get through. Pip, who is British, and Max, who is American, have an almost three-year-old son Dylan who is in the hospital in Birmingham, England with a brain tumor. The bad news keeps coming as the doctors say the surgery to remove the tumor was unsuccessful, it ended in Dylan being severally brain-damaged, and he is declared terminally ill. At first, Max and Pip agree to challenge this diagnosis. Max wants to take their son to the US for an alternative treatment that might gain him a few more months or years of life. Pip changes her mind though, and wishes to let Dylan go without further unnecessary treatment. They end up in court. From there, the book takes a turn and alternates between two futures--one in which Max wins and takes Dylan to the US for treatment, and one in which Pip wins and only palliative care is provided to Dylan. All of it is gut-wrenching and sad but the book lost me at the second-to-last chapter. I didn't agree with the authorial choices made on many levels. The writing is terrific in this one, but proceed with caution, knowing that it's sad and difficult at almost every turn.

Modern Death: how medicine changed the end of life/Haider Warraich/324 pgs.

Awhile ago, I read Dr. Atul Gawande's Being mortal : medicine and what matters in the end. Dr. Warraich's Modern Death complements Dr. Gawande's book. Both books describe how advances in modern medicine make it difficult at times to provide the patient with a "peaceful" death. Dr. Warraich discusses what has been defined as "death" throughout time, in addition to the moral and ethical issues involved in dealing with terminal illness patients. He provides the reader with patient cases he and his colleagues have struggled with, plus court cases that have tried to define when treatment goes beyond the patient's wishes. It's an intriguing read about an issue most of us will face at some time in our lives. Highly recommended!