Death Is a Day Worth Living

by Ana Claudia Quintana Arantes

Overview

"Although many choose to live as if dead, all have the right to die alive. When my turn comes, I want my life to end in a good way: on that day, I want to be alive."

Dr. Ana Claudia Quintana Arantes's viral TED Talk on end-of-life care cemented her, a palliative care doctor in Brazil, as a global leader on living and dying well. Her international bestseller, Death Is a Day Worth Living, has been translated into eight languages and now is being offered in English for the first time.

Death Is a Day Worth Living touches a universal nerve, speaking to our most intimate moments and to the vital part of who we are as caregivers and loving family members. With her expertise, Dr. Quintana Arantes courageously takes on a subject that continues to be taboo, offering nothing short of a revolutionary way to reconsider the act of dying. We must care for each other, our loved ones, and patients in profound ways, even when there is no longer the possibility of cure.

"It is only through awareness of death that we hasten to build the being that we ought to be," writes Dr. Quintana Arantes as she conveys a powerful sense that we need to—and can—do more to ensure that everyone has a well-managed and lovingly supported death, and that to do so is a celebration of their life and humanity, and those of their caretakers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781506487724
Publisher:	1517 Media
Publication date:	03/14/2023
Pages:	222
Sales rank:	656,765
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Dr. Ana Claudia Quintana Arantes is the founder of the Associação Casa do Cuidar, where she coordinates an advanced multidisciplinary program around palliative care. She's a graduate of the University of São Paulo, with advanced degrees from 4 Estações Institute of Psychology and the Instituto Pallium of Oxford University. Her work in geriatrics, palliative care, psychology, and grief intervention has made her among the most respected voices in her field. Now a global voice for end-of-life care, her TED Talk has garnered over 2.7 million views, leading to the writing of this book—an international bestseller with editions in eight languages.

Editorial Reviews

01/23/2023

Brazilian doctor Arantes delivers profound lessons about death in her powerful English-language debut. Drawing on her experience as a palliative care physician, Arantes contends that while many “shrink from the reality of death,” it’s actually “a bridge to life” to be understood without fear. The author recalls how, when she was young, a beloved grandmother experienced phantom pain after her legs were amputated, leading the young Arantes to cut the legs off her dolls in an effort to help extinguish the suffering. This desire to provide comfort, she writes, led to her career in palliative care. In short, meditative chapters, Arantes delves into the nuances of her field of medicine; advanced directives; and the difference between end of life comfort care and euthanasia. She outlines a model of kalothanasia—“beautiful death”—that treats the end of life lived with “dignity, meaning, and value.” A chapter on mourning offers a poignant take on a hard to explain process (“Tears are made of salt water,” she writes. “Crying from that bittersweet emotion is like bathing in the sea from the inside out”). Arantes equips readers with confidence to better understand death while remaining frank about its challenges, from addressing regrets to handling issues of faith. This authoritative offering will benefit terminal patients, their families, and those in end of life care. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

"Ana Claudia is a clear and compassionate guide on a journey into a daunting yet essential topic. Her powerful storytelling reminds us that the beauty of each day is heightened by our willingness to see suffering and mortality as an essential part of living. This book has the potential to change both your life and death." —Roy Remer, executive director of Zen Hospice Project, San Francisco

"A celebration of life that springs from looking clearly and squarely at death. A must-read for anyone living with a serious illness and for anyone serious about living life fully." —Dr. Steven Pantilat, professor of medicine, chief of the division of palliative medicine at the University of California, San Francisco

"Death Is a Day Worth Living addresses a universal need for language around the one experience we will all go through—death. Until we take our last breath, we are very much alive, if we choose to be. Ana Claudia powerfully and poetically speaks to the privilege of being alive until the very end. This profound book reframes everyday life and everyday breath." —Mindy Relyea, certified End of Life Doula and Grief Advocate

"Candid and refreshing, packed with wonderful metaphors about life and death, learned over decades of helping patients near the end of life. Everyone should read this book!" —Eduardo Bruera MD, F. T. McGraw Chair in the Treatment of Cancer, Department of Palliative, Rehabilitation, & Integrative Medicine, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

"Ana Claudia is a rare poem walking on two legs, dressed in a white lab coat, with two eyes shining on every face she encounters. If 'death is the bridge to life,' her words in Death Is a Day Worth Living become something equally rare: the warm and willing hand clasping yours, walking you across that rickety bridge, under a generous sun." —Dallas Graham, founder and publisher of the Red Fred Project

"Courageously deals with a subject that continues to be taboo." —maisMINAS, Brazil

The big question that surrounds death is, in reality, life." —SAPO

"In this book, [Dr. Ana Claudia Quintana Arantes] proposes a new look at life." —Rolling Stone, Brazil

"It is death you speak about, but it is about life, our life, that you make us think." —DN Life

"A delicious reflection on death—and life." —Jornal do Brasil

"Ambitious and challenging." —Slow Medicine

"Death Is a Day Worth Living can change people's perception of life." —O Globo

From the Publisher