Despite billions of dollars invested in medical research and technological breakthroughs in American healthcare made to prolong and improve the lives of patients, a devastating statistic remains. Two thirds of Americans die in healthcare institutions tethered to machines and tubes at bankrupting costs, despite research that shows 80 percent of Americans would prefer to spend their last days in their homes surrounded by loved ones.

Dr. Angelo E. Volandes, a physician at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, has witnessed far too often the unnecessary suffering patients and their families face when confronted with difficult end-of-life decisions. The solution, he knows, is not the latest technology. The most effective, powerful, and empathetic tool a doctor can offer is perhaps the simplest: The Conversation.

In his groundbreaking new book, Volandes illustrates how initiating an honest discussion among doctors, patients, and their families will empower patients to establish the treatment goals they want while avoiding procedures that cause more harm than good, thus closing the enormous gap between the care people want at the end of life and the care they actually receive.

With wisdom and compassion, Volandes not only recounts the compelling stories of seven patients confronting different end-of-life experiences, but also provides invaluable information-from helpful language to address family members and physicians to instructions for navigating advance directives. He delivers important lessons and indispensable resources-including an online video.

As a physician and patients' rights advocate, Volandes has dedicated his life to establishing a new standard of care. The Conversation is the essential guide that has long been missing from American medicine. It will embolden patients and inspire doctors to advocate for the choices that promote peace of mind and improve quality of life, because a life well lived deserves a good ending.