Paperback
978-1-77212-656-3Size: 6" x 9"
Pages: 248
epub
978-1-77212-672-3Pages: 240
Pages: 240
Ordinary Deaths
Stories from Memory
By Samuel LeBaron
In Ordinary Deaths, Dr. Samuel LeBaron reminds us of our need for human connection when experiencing death and loss. Based on more than thirty years of working with children and adults dying from cancer, LeBaron’s memoir contains stories of longing, confusion, love, and humility—often woven together. Sharing recollections from his childhood in rural Alberta and experiences from his career, LeBaron reveals a life of vital, intimate connection with others. His employment at a morgue during medical school, his early years as a clinical psychologist, and later careers in primary care and hospice in California, all translate into compassion and a deep understanding of death. Writing as he faces his own terminal illness—Stage IV lung cancer—LeBaron helps readers find acceptance and solace.
Book details
Publication date: September 2022Keywords: death; life; doctor; memoir; bereavement; pain reduction; children; families; grief; psychology; hospice care; palliative care; dying; acceptance; listening; loss; honest; poignant; coping; end-of-life; cancer
Subject(s): BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Medical (incl. Patients), FAMILY & RELATIONSHIPS / Death, Grief, Bereavement, MEDICAL / Physician & Patient, Memoirs, Doctor/patient relationship, Coping with death and bereavement, Literary Nonfiction, Health and Medicine, Biography, death; life; doctor; memoir; bereavement; pain reduction; children; families; grief; psychology; hospice care; palliative care; dying; acceptance; listening; loss; honest; poignant; coping; end-of-life; cancer, Memoir / Literary Nonfiction / Bereavement
Publisher(s): The University of Alberta Press
Book details
Publication date: September 2022Keywords: death; life; doctor; memoir; bereavement; pain reduction; children; families; grief; psychology; hospice care; palliative care; dying; acceptance; listening; loss; honest; poignant; coping; end-of-life; cancer
Subject(s): BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Medical (incl. Patients), FAMILY & RELATIONSHIPS / Death, Grief, Bereavement, MEDICAL / Physician & Patient, Memoirs, Doctor/patient relationship, Coping with death and bereavement, Literary Nonfiction, Health and Medicine, Biography, death; life; doctor; memoir; bereavement; pain reduction; children; families; grief; psychology; hospice care; palliative care; dying; acceptance; listening; loss; honest; poignant; coping; end-of-life; cancer, Memoir / Literary Nonfiction / Bereavement
Publisher(s): The University of Alberta Press
Samuel LeBaron. Dr. Samuel LeBaron is Professor Emeritus of Medicine at the Stanford University Medical Center. He has a doctorate in clinical psychology and was an early pioneer on managing pain and suffering. He currently lives both near San Francisco, CA, and in Victoria, BC.
"From the moment we are born we begin the journey to our inevitable death, and yet death is something we try not to think about. But from childhood, then as a psychologist, a morgue assistant, a physician, and finally as a patient, Samuel LeBaron has never stopped thinking about death. His unflinching gaze and profound insight, together with his lyrical and even rapturous prose, remind us that life is precious and poignant precisely because it ends. Simply put, Ordinary Deaths is extraordinary."—Abraham Verghese, author of Cutting for Stone
"If we consider death at all, we tend to load it with drama—but the truth of death is more accessible, and less terrifying, if we’d only dare to look. Using his considerable imagination and experience, Samuel helps us to see the truth before us: profound and plain." —BJ Miller, physician, author
1. Magic Medicine
2. Worms
3. Voices
4. Under Water
5. In the Barn
6. Aunt Margie
7. Charlie Gough
8. In the Field
9. To Tell the Truth
10. The Laughing Cure
11. La Llorona
12. Día de Muertos
13. Second Chances
14. Permission to Breathe
15. The Ferryman
16. Winterreise
17. Fathers
18. Lost Horses
19. The River Styx
20. Dream Baby
21. Safe Harbor
22. The Tillandsia
Epilogue
Notes
Appreciations
Samuel LeBaron. Dr. Samuel LeBaron is Professor Emeritus of Medicine at the Stanford University Medical Center. He has a doctorate in clinical psychology and was an early pioneer on managing pain and suffering. He currently lives both near San Francisco, CA, and in Victoria, BC.
"From the moment we are born we begin the journey to our inevitable death, and yet death is something we try not to think about. But from childhood, then as a psychologist, a morgue assistant, a physician, and finally as a patient, Samuel LeBaron has never stopped thinking about death. His unflinching gaze and profound insight, together with his lyrical and even rapturous prose, remind us that life is precious and poignant precisely because it ends. Simply put, Ordinary Deaths is extraordinary."—Abraham Verghese, author of Cutting for Stone
"If we consider death at all, we tend to load it with drama—but the truth of death is more accessible, and less terrifying, if we’d only dare to look. Using his considerable imagination and experience, Samuel helps us to see the truth before us: profound and plain." —BJ Miller, physician, author
1. Magic Medicine
2. Worms
3. Voices
4. Under Water
5. In the Barn
6. Aunt Margie
7. Charlie Gough
8. In the Field
9. To Tell the Truth
10. The Laughing Cure
11. La Llorona
12. Día de Muertos
13. Second Chances
14. Permission to Breathe
15. The Ferryman
16. Winterreise
17. Fathers
18. Lost Horses
19. The River Styx
20. Dream Baby
21. Safe Harbor
22. The Tillandsia
Epilogue
Notes
Appreciations
