In A Palliative Ethic of Care: Clinical Wisdom at Life's End, Joseph J. Fins, MD, has written a timely and sage book whose readership is likely to include the clinician, the legal practioner, as well as the lay person. Dr. Fins addresses the history of palliative care in careful, measured tones, and he writes well. The book's greatest asset may be its respect for its subject, the dying, and Dr. Fins gives all concerned parties equal voice in his sensitive, yet instructive text on life's final moments. This book should be on the required reading list for everyone who has to address a loved one's (as well as their own) death.