Hope for a Cool Pillow - Softcover

"A moving argument for the reform of end-of-life care... A timely, informed contribution to the ongoing debate over our nation's health care policies." - "Kirkus Reviews"
"One of the ways many of us must repay our parents for bringing us into life is to hold them as they leave it. In HOPE FOR A COOL PILLOW, Margaret Overton confronts the deaths of her own parents with profound, aware love, serious thinking about our current way of death in America, and always her clean, beautiful writing. Anyone who loved Roz Chast's CAN'T WE TALK ABOUT SOMETHING MORE PLEASANT will want to read HOPE FOR A COOL PILLOW." - Thomas Dyja, author of "The Third Coast"
"Hilarious and compassionate, Hope for A Cool Pillow should also be read by anyone over 39 for its hard-won gerontological wisdom. Even those terrified by its subject should find it both useful and grimly entertaining." - James McManus, author of "The Education of a Poker Player"

"A moving argument for the reform of end-of-life care. . . A timely, informed contribution to the ongoing debate over our nation's health care policies."
- "Kirkus Reviews"

"One of the ways many of us must repay our parents for bringing us into life is to hold them as they leave it. In HOPE FOR A COOL PILLOW, Margaret Overton confronts the deaths of her own parents with profound, aware love, serious thinking about our current way of death in America, and always her clean, beautiful writing. Anyone who loved Roz Chast's CAN'T WE TALK ABOUT SOMETHING MORE PLEASANT will want to read HOPE FOR A COOL PILLOW."
- Thomas Dyja, author of "The Third Coast"

"Hilarious and compassionate, Hope for A Cool Pillow should also be read by anyone over 39 for its hard-won gerontological wisdom. Even those terrified by its subject should find it both useful and grimly entertaining."
- James McManus, author of "The Education of a Poker Player"

." . .Generally, the culprits are a lack of communication and preparation. When physicians are reluctant to explain fully their patient's options, and patients don't take responsibility for their own health, the end-of-life experience will be especially challenging. A wealth of credible information in Overton's writing is evidenced by the well-documented bibliography. VERDICT: This book should be required reading for general readers who have not yet considered terminal illness, either for themselves themselves or for their loved ones."
- Chad Clark, "Library Journal"

"Hope for a Cool Pillow evolved out of conflicting experiences caring for her father and mother. 'Something is wrong with this picture, ' she writes. 'I've spent a lifetime in medicine - why can't dying be better than this?'"
- - Donald Liebenson interview, "Chicago Tribune"

"A moving argument for the reform of end-of-life care. . . A timely, informed contribution to the ongoing debate over our nation's health care policies."
- Kirkus Reviews

"One of the ways many of us must repay our parents for bringing us into life is to hold them as they leave it. In HOPE FOR A COOL PILLOW, Margaret Overton confronts the deaths of her own parents with profound, aware love, serious thinking about our current way of death in America, and always her clean, beautiful writing. Anyone who loved Roz Chast's CAN'T WE TALK ABOUT SOMETHING MORE PLEASANT will want to read HOPE FOR A COOL PILLOW."
- Thomas Dyja, author of The Third Coast

"Hilarious and compassionate, Hope for A Cool Pillow should also be read by anyone over 39 for its hard-won gerontological wisdom. Even those terrified by its subject should find it both useful and grimly entertaining."
- James McManus, author of The Education of a Poker Player

." . .Generally, the culprits are a lack of communication and preparation. When physicians are reluctant to explain fully their patient's options, and patients don't take responsibility for their own health, the end-of-life experience will be especially challenging. A wealth of credible information in Overton's writing is evidenced by the well-documented bibliography. VERDICT: This book should be required reading for general readers who have not yet considered terminal illness, either for themselves themselves or for their loved ones."
- Chad Clark, Library Journal

"Hope for a Cool Pillow evolved out of conflicting experiences caring for her father and mother. 'Something is wrong with this picture, ' she writes. 'I've spent a lifetime in medicine - why can't dying be better than this?'"
- - Donald Liebenson interview, Chicago Tribune

Margaret Overton's Hope for a Cool Pillow is a passionate argument for planning end-of-life care. As physician, daughter and student of American health care, Overton pulls from all corners, showing us the emotional, financial and physical costs of not being prepared. Her daily rounds reveal harrowing consequences, her studies at Harvard highlight the industry's limits, and her own aging parents make her case universal. Deeply felt, frankly told, this book will challenge you--and then help you--make your own choices about end-of-life care.