As a specialist in both medical ethics and the treatment of older patients, Dr. Lydia Dugdale knows a great deal about the end of life. Far too many of us die poorly, she argues. Our culture has overly medicalized death: dying is often institutional and sterile, prolonged by unnecessary resuscitations and other intrusive interventions. Our reliance on modern medicine can actually prolong suffering and strip us of our dignity. Yet our lives do not have to end this way. This book reconsiders death, death culture, and how we can transform how we live each day, including our last.