A Completed Life by Rodney Syme


A Completed Life
Title : A Completed Life
Author :
Rating :
ISBN : 0646887343
ISBN-10 : 9780646887340
Language : English
Format Type : Kindle Edition
Number of Pages : 347
Publication : Published November 11, 2023

This book presents Dr Syme's views on the plight of people with dementia, and his suggestion for further legislative change. The book's title reflects a life that has been long, and where all that was possible has been achieved - and so is in a sense 'complete'. There follows consideration of the problems that may follow, and what may be a reasonable response.

A Completed Life Reviews

  • Anne Green

    A remarkable exploration of how poorly our society is dealing with the plight of the aged and frail, those suffering dementia, and others with terminal illness who have reached the stage of "a completed life", not in the sense of a life fulfilled but one that no longer offers purpose, meaning or enjoyment. He takes the aged care system to task, noting that while around only 1% of the population prefer to end their lives in residential aged care, 90% of us do so. With Voluntary Assisted Dying now legal in all States of Australia, Syme emphasises the shortcomings of this legislation, particularly in the case of those suffering from end stage dementia. He makes a compelling case for all of us to take responsibility for how we want our lives to end by completing a detailed Advanced Care Directive at a stage when we still have capacity to do so and offers detailed instructions for how to do this at the end of the book.