O. LET ME NOT GET ALZHEIMER'S, SWEET HEAVEN: Why many people prefer death or active deliverance to living with dementia. Paperback – October 17, 2019

Easy to read, thorough, up to date review of this dread disease and its parent category of Dementia.Though thorough and scholarly it is easy to read and an excellent reference. It should be a mustread for older folks and families where dementia has hit. The title sound funny-- and the author,a psychiatrist -- does have a sense of humor, this small volume is a serious reference book aboutdementia.

This is a very thorough book examining and talking generally about dementia. It's mostly about the U.K. situation but as there are some 6 million Americans with Alzheimer's it is very relevant. Chapters 4 and 5 areespecially informative. A paperback original, so not pricey. Appendix #4 has a specimen advance decision/living will for dementia, something you don't often find.

This book is quite an eye-opener and also a page-turner, I couldn't put it down. It covers the specific subject of dementia and its effects very well. However, the book isn't just restricted to that - it is a very good guide/introduction to what could be called (it goes by many names) the 'right to die movement' or the 'right to voluntary deliverance movement'.Dr. Brewer is, with justification in my opinion, scathing of the organised religions that frustrate efforts to bring in legislation in the UK that allows voluntary assisted dying to take place. He hits them bang on target and it is very much deserved. I say this as someone who in my teenage years had a fairly comprehensive NDE and part of what I took away from that is that (a) there is definitely an afterlife and (b) that what we would refer to as a God does indeed exist. So to that extent I differ from Dr. Brewer in my knowledge (not *belief*; I have direct proof for myself of the validity of what I claim). However, that God which I know of is in no way whatsoever anything like what the various organised religions would have people believe. I am fine with someone who is religious having their own beliefs that they would like to live and die by. However, like Dr. Brewer I think they have absolutely no rights of any description to enforce their medieval dogmas and practices on any other group of people at all -- i.e. the majority of the population of the UK. Dr. Brewer covers this very well in the book, along with some very good historical detail, and the book is well worth reading for that aspect alone.Likewise, Dr. Brewer voices considerable suspicions, and justified, disquiet over the occupations of (so-called) palliative care physicians, their ruling professional body, and their oft-times connection to organised religion and all that entails for their patients, be they in a standard NHS hospital or tucked away in some God-forsaken hospice where they might find themselves subject to the tender ministrations of the true-believers that practice 'medicine' in them. Again the book is well worth reading for this kind of 'background' detail alone.In all I'd give this book a score of 100 stars if I could. Do buy and read it, in many respects it might well open your eyes. The barbarity of current practices around end-of-life care and dying need to end and end soon. People who are mentally competent should have free and autonomous choice over how and when they die -- and their own view should prevail, never the opinion of the doctor. Whose life, and death, is it anyway?

If we live much beyond 70 we all have a very significant chance of dying with dementia, probably Alzheimers, and even people in their 30s and 40s can begin the slow descent into that horribly mindless state. This book sets out with elegance and tremendous care the social,medical and personal problems which dementia brings.The need for all of us to prepare in advance for an eventuality which if it does arise cannot be resolved at a point when our mental abilities are no longer complete is well set out. The need for Advance Decisions ( living wills) is clearly made and perhaps should be mandatory for all adults which would make their tasks so much easier for medical staff and reduce much of the burden for close families as well.This is a milestone of a book. All doctors, all politicians and all priests should read it before pontificating on end of life matters. And we should all have the ability to prepare for our end not have it imposed on us.

I concur with everything the previous two 5 star reviewers have said. This book is so well written, comprehensively referenced and thorough in coverage of the full range of dementia ethical and related topics that it should be required reading for anybody interested in this field, particularly parliamentarians. One might think these end-of-life topics would make it a difficult read; it isn't, the author's inspired writing style makes all the topics very accessible and engaging.