By Jason Klaiber
Staff Writer
Channeling his time spent caring for patients on their deathbeds, Dr. Gregory Eastwood has condensed decades of experience down to 152 pages.
His new book, titled “Finishing Our Story: Preparing for the End of Life,” concerns the later stages in one’s lifetime.
“It’s a time of life that is a little scary, and I think it is a little uncomfortable to think about,” Eastwood said.
Predating his career in the medical field, Eastwood’s earliest childhood memory dealt with his own grandmother’s death when he was three.
According to Eastwood, typical for a former era before modern gadgetry had taken hold, she died surrounded by friends and family in the front room of her home.
“It fixed in my mind how things used to be,” Eastwood, now 78, said.
In his book’s opening chapter, he focuses on the changing healthcare landscape in regard to dying.
“Death, of course, has been the same for as long as we know, but the process of dying has changed a lot,” Eastwood said.
He said people die more often in hospitals than their homes now, and the dying process is more prolonged and expensive than it was in the 1940s.
“I did not appreciate any of that at age three, but I came to appreciate it all at a later time,” he said. “It was interesting that my life experience sort of circled back.”
As a gastroenterologist, Eastwood took care of patients dying from digestive-related ailments and types of cancer.
He went on to serve as the president of SUNY Upstate Medical University from 1993 to 2006 and as the interim president from 2013 to 2016.
He has spent the past several years teaching bioethics, humanities and medicine at the university in addition to providing ethics consultations.
Eastwood, who lives in Jamesville, began writing his newly released book while on sabbatical about three years ago.
Inspired as well by his own grappling with the later stages in life, the seven-chapter book specifically tackles such matters as the right-to-die concept and decision-making concerning the appointment of healthcare proxies.
Eastwood said that people should prepare for the possibility of confronting end-of-life decisions not only for themselves but for others.
“There’s hardly anybody who gets through at least the middle of life without experiencing the death of a loved one,” Eastwood said. “Very often the patients are not aware of this process. They may be in a coma. They may be confused or under sedation.”
He said an individual’s religious values often come into play.
“It’s a different kind of decision for every person,” Eastwood said.
“Finishing Our Story: Preparing for the End of Life,” published by the Oxford University Press, can be purchased through most book retailers, including Amazon.
