I was excited to read a book like this written by a doctor instead of a writer.
I’m always skeptical when I read these books. I’ve read some books that are obviously fake and some that seem honest and believable.
This review is just my opinion. I can only judge by the hundreds of people I’ve worked with, and the thousands of patients I’ve cared for and what I’ve experienced personally. I have to say that after 40 years, if I were to write down all my experiences with people who were dying or who have been resuscitated, and all the strange events I’ve had, maybe no one would believe me either. Still, this is pretty far “out-there”.
I’m just one person in one city, in one little part of the world among 8 billion other people. So I obviously can’t be an authority. I haven’t written a book for money, either. Since Dr. Lerma has, he’s going to get my opinion and my scrutiny.
These stories are incredibly detailed and imparted by hospice patients. Hospice patients who, by the way, are completely coherent and energetic enough to tell a detailed story and have long discussions about the details of “the other side”. If it’s not a good time to talk, don’t worry, they’ll wait and be ready to talk hours later. The chance of a hospice patient being this alert and oriented and for this amount of time with this much energy is slim to none, and there are several of them in this book.
If there is any kind of story to be told by a patient, nine times out of ten they will tell a nurse or a direct caregiver instead of a doctor or administrator. That’s just how it is. Maybe this doctor/medical director has more time than average to sit around and talk with the patients. I guess it’s possible.
I’m also wondering why is this one man is blessed with all these super detailed stories and experiences, all in the same facility during a time frame of approximately ten years, when nothing that detailed has ever been told either to me or my many, many coworkers in a forty year time frame covering numerous facilities? I’m feeling left out!! I guess lightening DOES strike twice, or, more accurately numerous times for Lerma.
Speaking of lightening striking more than once, the similarity of all these experiences is astounding! They are all Christian, with lots of talk about Jesus and God and angels (yet ideas that seem to contradict the Bible). Just saying. We even have two different patients (unknown to each other) both getting a real feather from their angel!! When each patient died, their feather mysteriously disappeared.
What more can I say? If it helps someone to believe in this book I can’t say not to read it, but I canNOT recommend. I would hate to think these are lies that make money by preying on people when they’re at their most vulnerable. If (and I mean IF) these are lies to “help” people, does the end justify the means? There is always the possibility of mental illness, in which case calling these “lies” would not apply.
I hate to be so cynical, but I was fooled by Beatrice Sparks when I was a teen. Maybe she was well intentioned, but she caused harm to many people (including people she wrote about) instead.