“I want to live my life like a festival
“I decided to study death.”

Became a hospice palliative care specialist in the United States
The first Korean psychiatrist,
Recording a Thousand Deaths and a Thousand Lives

“As far as I know, Dr. Lee Yu-jin is the only Korean psychiatrist who has become a hospice palliative care specialist in the United States.
His dream of becoming a physician specializing in the mental health of cancer patients has broadened into a passion to help more people living with chronic, incurable illnesses, and now, aspirations to help all of us who will one day face death.
This book contains stories from the field that only someone who has deeply contemplated life can tell.
“I hope that through ‘Time to Read Death,’ people who continue to live in pain can practice self-compassion and still love life.” _Professor Kim Do-kwan, Department of Psychiatry, Samsung Seoul Hospital

“I am a doctor who cares for the world’s most fragile lives in the neonatal intensive care unit, where life begins and ends.
Every time I see babies leaving after a fierce battle for life, I think about life and death.
How should I die, how should I live, how should I prepare for separation from my loved one?
In this book, which contains deep insights into life and death by Dr. Lee Yu-jin, a psychiatrist and hospice palliative care specialist, I found answers to long-standing questions.
Reading about death has never made me yearn for life so passionately.
I want to give this book to you who has lost the strength to live today and is exhausted.” _ Dr. Yeon-Kyung Noh, Department of Neonatal Critical Care Medicine, Stanford University Hospital

I am a psychiatrist in Korea and a hospice palliative care specialist in the United States.
… … In the sense that psychiatry alleviates the pain of living and hospice palliative care alleviates the pain of death, these two different disciplines are working toward the same goal.
The etymology of palliation is the Latin word 'palliare', which means 'coat'.
Therefore, my role, and the purpose of this book, is to provide warmth to those who need a coat to endure the pitch-black darkness and cold just before dawn.
I hope this book will be one you'll want to keep by your side for a long time, like a thick coat in your closet that you return to on a day when your heart is aching.

---From "A warm coat is needed for both life and death"

It was only natural for me to decide to study death in order to gain a deeper understanding of the good life.
Knowing that there is an end colors every moment of life with a little sadness.
Because even this happy moment will end someday.
So now our time must shine more brightly.
I decided to study death in order to live life like a festival.

---From "Should I Become a Hospice Doctor?"

“I’m going to write you a prescription, and you must follow it.
“You understand, right?”
I have prescribed him three days' leave of absence, using the authority given to me.
He added that the leave begins the moment he leaves the consulting room and he must not return to the hospital until the end of the leave.
He also prescribed three days of observing the clouds, feeling the wind, basking in the sun, smelling the flowers and trees planted along the road, returning home to eat with family, and chatting with old friends who loved him.
… … After returning to the hospital from his vacation, he looked much brighter and healthier.
What he needed was life, not antidepressants.
He didn't commit suicide.
---From "The Death of Doctor K"

The six questions below are ones you must ask yourself for the rest of your life.
These are the questions needed to return the power of life decisions, which doctors and hospitals held for the treatment of illness, back to the person concerned and help them live the rest of their lives as they wish.
“If you can’t recover like this, how do you want to spend the rest of your life?”
“What is one bodily function that you absolutely cannot give up until the very last moment?”
“If you can’t solve all the inconveniences you have now, what would you like to solve first?”
“Is there anything you absolutely must do before you die?”
“What kind of treatment would you like to receive and what are your goals for that treatment?”
"Where do you want to die? Should it be at home, or would a hospital be fine?"
---From "Is this a life worth living now?"

Those who have lived a life of subjective choice and responsibility for that choice often hope to choose death as well, actively and subjectively.
As we get closer to death, we gain the courage to reveal more of our true selves.
Just as there are no wrong lives, there are no wrong deaths.
Death is simply an inevitable process of life that is decided at birth.
Whether it's a good death, a dignified death, or euthanasia, we will all just live our lives and meet our own ending.

---From "Is this a life worth living now?"