Two Weeks of Life

By Eleanor Clift

At about the same time as Terri Schiavo was dying in hospice and many folks in the United States were in an uproar about her feeding tube and hydration being removed, Eleanor Clift, an editor for Newsweek and a regular panelist on The McLaughlin Group, was dealing with the gradual fading away of her husband, journalist Tom Brazaitis, who was dying of kidney cancer. Coincidentally, the pope at that time, John Paul, was also fading rapidly and died a few days after Terri and Tom.
Dealing with her husband's decline gave Eleanor a more intimate perspective on what was happening with Terri and her family. In Terri's case, her parents wanted her to be kept alive, believing that she could eventually make somewhat of a recovery. But Terri's husband, after watching her remain unresponsive for more than a decade, declared it was time to end it and let Terri go. Somehow, the government decided to stick it's big nose into what was really a family disagreement and Terri's situation soon became front page news, and all the freaks and weirdos on both sides rushed to Florida, not wanting to be left out of the media spotlight and the opportunity to generate publicity for their points of view.
So Eleanor writes of watching her husband's decline and the Terri Schiavo media circus also and since she is a reporter she ties it all together, with lots of information on the process of dying and confronting those end-of-life issues that most of us would rather not think about at all.

This was a very engrossing, compelling and informative book. It has given me lots to think about and I have made a note to myself to review with my primary physician some of the provisions of my own living will. Clift says that medical experts claim that withholding hydration is not a painful or uncomfortable way die, which is something I didn't know. You would think dying of thirst would be unbearable, but according to this book, it isn't.
It seems wrong to say that you enjoyed a book about the deaths of three people, but I did enjoy this book. It is not only hugely informative, but it was also just simply very interesting and engaging. It's a really good read.