Santa Monica, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/02/2013 -- An Internist practicing in Santa Monica, California, Dr. Robert Ashley M.D. has published a novel illustrating the need for end of life care preparations. With complexity of family arrangements due to divorce, remarriage, grown children living in distant places, legal instruments like Advance Directives and Powers of Attorney can fail to meet the needs of a terminally ill or non-communicative patient when instructions and deciding parties are not kept up with current wishes and relevant relationships.

In his novel, "Beautifully Absurd", Dr. Ashley tells the story of Paul Mathews, a child of the 1960s who becomes unable to communicate after a stroke. Estranged from his ex-wife and grown son, Paul wants desperately to reconnect with his son, Jacob. He has no way to communicate to his doctors, and the hospital cannot locate either Jacob or his ex-wife, Sarah. Doctors are forced to make decisions in Paul's best interest as he never created and Advance Directive and cannot communicate with doctors or nurses.

The story illustrates how a quagmire of responsibility can be created given the complexity of relationships, lack of planning, and medical technology and treatment that can keep a terminal patient alive for an extended period of time, often indefinitely.

While a touching and sometimes humorous story, Robert Ashley M.D. wrote "Beautifully Absurd" with the aim of educating people about Advance Directives and end of life care issues, saying about his target audience, "The Baby Boomers are getting older and while their health care is a right, death is a fact. Paul’s ride through the medical system will hopefully give this generation of Americans the impetus to discuss end of life care with their family and their doctor."

About The Author: Robert Ashley M.D
Robert Ashley M.D. is an Internal Medicine physician practicing medicine with the UCLA Medical Group in Santa Monica, California. He is an Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine at UCLA. Like other primary care physicians, Dr. Ashley has seen birth, death and much of what falls in between. The motivation to write "Beautifully Absurd" originates from patients' struggles with death that put into question the meaning of life.

CONTACT
Robert D. Ashley, MD
Santa Monica, CA
Phone: (310) 656-1701