《临终困局》内容简介

　　当一名医生决定让病人有尊严地死——

　　过度治疗VS安详离世？揭露德国医疗体制巨大利益黑洞……

　　连续40周荣登德国《明镜》周刊畅销书排行榜作品

　　“都快进棺材里了，病人却还在治疗。”

　　1.过度治疗VS安详离世？德国北威州姑息治疗和麻醉科医师揭露医疗体制巨大利益黑洞，连续40周荣登德国《明镜》畅销书排行榜作品。

　　2.“都快进棺材了，病人却还在治疗。”——外科手术、透析、放疗、疼痛、痴呆、紧急医疗、人造营养等，该如何应对生命中的意外和自然衰老所带来的挣扎和折磨？如何与医护人员更好地沟通？

　　3.老龄社会到来之时，人人都应该重视生命选择权和医疗知情权。本书作者提出过度治疗的有害性质和安详离世的可能性。作者强调生前预嘱、寻求第二医疗意见的重要性，提倡在生活能够自理的时候合理安排自己的后事。人人都可以为更体面、更有尊严地去世而提前做准备。

　　在德国的医院里，动手术、插管、放射治疗和人工呼吸这些业务——依据收费标准的不同，每人每天的住院治疗费用约在1600欧元——就是摇钱树。作者马蒂亚斯·特恩斯行医多年，接手病例无数，其中包括年老体衰，已经无法医治，只能依靠机器存活的患者。但面对这些病患，很多医生和医院所关心的并非如何去减轻患者的痛苦，而是如何获取经济利润。治疗越频繁、越复杂，他们的盈利空间就越大。为此，特恩斯医生呼吁：我们必须进一步加强姑息治疗，而非通过过度治疗去延长老年患者的痛苦，在具体评估之后，应该提倡姑息治疗，让病人有尊严地安详离世。本书通过外科手术、透析、放疗、人造营养等治疗手段下的各个活生生的病人的故事，真实呈现他们所面对的痛苦，所经历的过度治疗，揭露了德国现行医疗体系下不尊重病人意愿，为了获取高额的经济利润而进行过度治疗的现状。

　　作者简介

　　马蒂亚斯·特恩斯，1967年出生于德国维滕。1998年起，特恩斯博士担任麻醉科和姑息治疗科医师。现在他是北威州在德国姑息治疗协会的发言人，也是德国联邦议会法律委员会临终关怀问题专家。此外，他经常出席电视台的访谈节目，比如德国电视二台的“马尔库斯・朗茨访谈”。特恩斯博士也是《明镜》和《时代周报》有关姑息治疗的重点采访对象。2020年，马蒂亚斯・特恩斯荣获由德国疼痛医学学会颁发的德国疼痛医学奖（DeutscherSchmerzpreis）。

Summary of "Deathbed"

When a doctor decides to let a patient die with dignity --

Overtreatment vs. a peaceful death? Exposing the huge profit black hole of the German healthcare system...

It has been on Der Spiegel's bestseller list for 40 consecutive weeks

"They're in the coffin, and the patient is still being treated."

1. Overtreatment versus a peaceful death? A palliative care and anesthesiologist from North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, who exposed the huge profit black hole of the medical system, has been on the German Der Spiegel bestseller list for 40 consecutive weeks.

2. "The patient is still being treated when he's almost in the coffin." - Surgery, dialysis, radiation, pain, dementia, emergency medical treatment, artificial nutrition, etc., how to cope with life's accidents and the struggles and torments of natural aging? How to communicate better with medical staff?

3. When the aging society comes, everyone should pay attention to the right to choose life and to know medical information. The authors of this book raise the harmful nature of overtreatment and the possibility of a peaceful death. The author emphasizes the importance of living wills and seeking second medical opinions, and advocates reasonable arrangements for one's own affairs when one is able to take care of oneself. Everyone can prepare in advance for a more dignified and dignified death.

In German hospitals, operations like surgery, intubation, radiation therapy and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation - which cost about 1,600 euros per person per day, depending on the fee - are cash cows. The author, Matthias Terns, has been practicing medicine for many years and has taken on numerous cases, including patients who are too old to be treated and can only be kept alive by machines. However, in the face of these patients, many doctors and hospitals are not concerned about how to alleviate the suffering of patients, but how to obtain economic profits. The more frequent and complex the treatments, the more profitable they are. To this end, Dr. Terns called for: we must further strengthen palliative care, rather than prolong the suffering of elderly patients through overtreatment, after a specific assessment, should promote palliative care, so that patients can die peacefully with dignity. Through the stories of patients undergoing surgery, dialysis, radiotherapy, artificial nutrition and other treatment methods, this book truly presents the pain they face and the overtreatment they have experienced, and exposes the current situation of over-treatment in the current German medical system that does not respect the wishes of patients and seeks to obtain high economic profits.

About the author

Matthias Terns was born in Witten, Germany in 1967. Since 1998, Dr. Terns has been a physician in the Department of Anesthesiology and Palliative care. He is now the spokesperson for NRW in the German Palliative Care Association and an expert on end-of-life care in the Legal Committee of the German Federal Parliament. In addition, he frequently appeared on television interviews, such as the "Interview with Marcus Lentz" on Deutschland Television 2. Dr. Terns is also the subject of interviews for Der Spiegel and Die Zeit on palliative care. In 2020, Matthias Terns was awarded the German Prize in Pain Medicine (DeutscherSchmerzpreis) by the German Society for Pain Medicine.