Katy Butler is a journalist and speaker on doctor-patient communication and the choices families face near the end of life. She is the author of Knocking on Heaven’s Door (Scribner 2014) and The Art of Dying Well: A Practical Guide to a Good End of Life (Scribner 2019)

Tags: Katy Butler, community, quality of life, advance medicine, Western medicine, passivity in our health care, end of life, mortality, palliative care, knowing the trajectory of your illness, chemotherapy, caregivers, palliative care doctors, length of life, honest hope, practice of presence, denial, Kaiser RESPECT checklist, Death & Dying, Health & Healing, Spirituality