OnlineBookClub.org

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Cheat the Nursing Home" by Marc Newhouse.]
I give this book a 4 out of 4 stars. While the topic is a morbid one, it has been written in a spunky manner, about a reality most of us have to or will have to face one day. It is a things-to-do manual of approaching death in a way that provides minimal discomfort to self and to others in the advanced ages of life. It aims at the people who have reached a certain stage of life, and advises them to decide on how they would want their families to handle them if they are incapacitated.

The story begins with the author introducing the readers to certain statistics in nursing homes that house people in their 80s and 90s suffering vegetative states. A state that no one thinks of being in, when one is younger or healthier. Having seen his mother and how she prepared for it, he gives a step-by-step account of what one should do to prepare oneself for the end of life. There are various links for references on every step that he has described. He has given several examples to elaborate upon the steps and help readers relate to them easily. The final step has been justified considering various arguments and reasoning on a legal, ethical and moral basis. It is like a what-to expect-when- following –this- step guide for the reader written in a crisp manner.

I have given it a 4 because the synopsis of the book has stated the intention clearly.The writer proclaims that it is a manual to have an easy death, and that’s precisely what the book contains. If one is looking for a good entertaining read, this is not the book to go for. It might as well be a part of a guide to life or perhaps guide to a peaceful death, rather than a book itself. One has to read it with a practical frame of mind, without getting emotional about it. It could also be depressing at many points. For example, the part where he describes on how to die with helium seems to be unnecessary and also a put off. This is supposed to be a book with a positive intent, and not give a person certain ideas even though written in a funny manner.

The tone of the writing is such that it curbs some of the grimness of the topic and kudos to the writer for that. It definitely sets the mind into a thought process on whether this is something do-able in future.

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I think a lot of people don't want to think about the subject of nursing homes, not necessarily cheating the nursing homes, but nursing homes in general and death. I am not an advocate of nursing homes but it a necessary subject to think about, even for younger people. You never know when something is going to happen that might incapacitate you, be it an accidnet or an illness, and this matter should be discussed with people who are close to you so they don't have to deal with this in a time of great distress. If there is any way that you can avoid nursing homes, not necessarily by death, but by having plans so that's not just where you end up because people just don't know what to do with you and they don't want to think about it so they put you in a nursing home. Sometimes, its the only alternative, like alzheimer's patients, or patients who need a lot of nursing care, but I think there are a lot of people in nursing homes where it might not be the best place for them. I think I would like to read this book to see what Newhouse has to say on the subject.

Unfortunately hardly anyone goes to a nursing home with the thought that he or she will have to live there for the rest of their lives. Most of the people go there with the intention, belief and faith of getting better and returning home as soon as possible. This book talks more about what to do in a certain stage of life so that the suffering for self and family members is minimal.