This book will be helpful to anyone with ageing parents or people like myself who are old but not yet elderly. This unusual and important book is a series of reflections on death in all its forms: the science of it, the medicine, the tragedy and the comedy. Dr David Jarrett draws on family stories and case histories from his thirty years of treating the old, demented and frail to try to find his own understanding of the end. David Jarrett’s 33 Meditations, the fruit of forty years of professional experience with people at the end of their lives, is not only timely and important, but hugely enjoyable. It presents a cogent argument for an alternative approach to the end of life from the one that has seen us sacrifice quality of years for quantity.

I’ve recommended this book to so many and my parents have read this as a result (and also loved it)! Jarrett explains how we can ensure that our last years are comfortable and not a burden to us, the health care system and, most importantly, our loved ones. I struggled a bit in the beginning and wondered if this was going to be another medical professional having a pop at the NHS and government and so on. I read this book over the course of one day and now I am passing it on to friends to read and discuss.David Jarrett has been a doctor for forty years, thirty of which as an NHS consultant in geriatric and stroke medicine. And I loathe fish, can't eat lamb and must steer clear of certain other foods that make my skin itch. He is a clinician, teacher, examiner and former medical manager with extensive experience of frailty, death and dying and the modern world’s failure to confront the realities. This book was recommended and whilst I did find it interesting in parts, generally it's a tad sad and depressing ( as it would be given the subject matter) For me, the book lacked any spiritual depth.

I am happy to talk on end of life decisions in the elderly, dementia prevention, the history of stroke disease, biological ageing or other topics covered in 33 Meditation on Death. We all need to have conversation about what we want in the end and keep the conversation going with your family. I am interested in how modern medicine seems to have lost its way especially with excessive investigation and treatment of the very frail and elderly close to the end of their natural lives. It’s fantastic - every chapter left me reflecting on my own life, what I would like for the people I love and what I hope my children will experience. If a doctor can perform an abortion or transgender operation I don’t understand why a patient can’t request an end of life assist.I have a plan in the end and won't be left suffering more needlessly because of lacking a NDR directive. This wonderfully enlightening book by a doctor who cares for the dying is a plea for all of us to consider now what a good death should look like and what we’d want for ourselves. I discovered this book after a guest speaker on a radio 4 programme mentioned it and thought I’d give it a go. This is reflected less in his observations - which are more evenhanded - than in his sweeping asides and unfortunately these do intrude given the subject matter of what is otherwise a thoughtful and interesting book about dying.

A refrain throughout the book is: "Just because a treatment can be given does not mean it should be given. Bursting with empathy, common sense and humour, would that we could all be so fortunate as to have the author at our bedside when the time comes.A mixture of reminiscences drawn from the author's family life and a long medical career and reflections on how to deal with death and dying.

Like many lapsed Catholics the author is sometimes guilty of imagining that a Roman Catholic understanding of how to respond to death and what religion means is the only valid (but wrong) way of being religious. This book reinforces all the things that we suspect about ageing which none of us really wants to own. Brilliant - a grimly humourous yet humane account of the realities of growing old in the modern age. It is a very thought-provoking, and often moving book, that reveals how modern medicine can sometimes prolong suffering for both the patient and the family.ACT Contact / FAQ About Events / Videos Merch / Subs Sign in/up 33 Meditations on Death : Notes from the Wrong End of Medicine dAVID jARRETT More by this author. He marries the importance of keeping ourselves useful with the necessity not to take ourselves too seriously.