Handbook for Mortals : Enduring Loss : Frequent markers of loss

  • Being told you have a fatal illness
  • Telling others you are dying
  • Facing treatments
  • Deciding to end treatments
  • Coping when treatments fail
  • Seeing people you care about
  • Being hospitalized
  • Going through possessions
  • Making plans for the time of death and the time after

"He searched for his accustomed fear of death and could not find it."

Leo Tolstoy, from The Death of Ivan Ilyich

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Handbook for Mortals book cover Copyright © 1999, 2006 by Joanne Lynn. This extract from the Handbook for Mortals by Joanne Lynn, M.D. and Joan Harrold, M.D. is used with permission. To learn more about improving care at the end of life visit the main web site for Americans for Better Care of the Dying.
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