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. It is a bitter-sweet reflection of a life well lived but one that is courageous enough to face the realities of life and the human condition.

My cynical side thinks it’s because keeping an old patient alive generates way more money for the medical community. I work in the NHS myself in psychology and really liked the author’s musings on how much society might over-medicalise or over-treat. I read this book over the course of one day and now I am passing it on to friends to read and discuss. Anything we prepare for is so much easier to handle than becoming overwhelmed due to our lack of tools to sort things out clearly.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. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. How else will my caregivers (when I'm old and gaga) know I want a glass of Aussie Chardonnay at 7pm every evening.

Too much medicine and too little helping people and their families gain a realistic vision of old age and dying.I have a plan in the end and won't be left suffering more needlessly because of lacking a NDR directive. I’ve recommended this book to so many and my parents have read this as a result (and also loved it)! You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. 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.