THE LAST CHAPTER examines the benefits of planning for end-of-life care through interviews with a diverse collection of subjects, including elderly hospice patients, parents of a child battling a rare metabolic bone disease, a young father of three suffering from liver and colon cancer, and even an unlikely hospice "survivor," a 45-year-old mother with congestive heart failure. Throughout, doctors from several Pittsburgh-area hospitals stress the importance of communication regarding end-of-life decision-making. These difficult, but necessary conversations can help patients navigate - and even dictate - their end-of-life scenarios. THE LAST CHAPTER also follows nurses, hospice-care providers and an interfaith chaplain who tend to the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of terminally ill patients.
