In Being Mortal, bestselling author Atul Gawande tackles the hardest challenge of his profession: how medicine can not only improve life but also the process of its ending Medicine has triumphed in modern times, transforming birth, injury, and infectious disease from harrowing to manageable. But in the inevitable condition of aging and death, the goals of medicine seem too frequently to run … counter to the interest of the human spirit. Nursing homes, preoccupied with safety, pin patients into railed beds and wheelchairs. Hospitals isolate the dying, checking for vital signs long after the goals of cure have become moot. Doctors, committed to extending life, continue to carry out devastating procedures that in the end extend suffering. Gawande, a practicing surgeon, addresses his profession’s ultimate limitation, arguing that quality of life is the desired goal for patients and families. Gawande offers examples of freer, more socially fulfilling models for assisting the infirm and dependent elderly, and he explores the varieties of hospice care to demonstrate that a person’s last weeks or months may be rich and dignified. Full of eye-opening research and riveting storytelling, Being Mortal asserts that medicine can comfort and enhance our experience even to the end, providing not only a good life but also a good end.
more
This book tackles a question every person will have to confront someday: how do you want to die? Dr. Gawande is a fantastic, vibrant storyteller, whether he’s talking about his 109-year-old grandfather checking his farm by horseback, or how one doctor transformed a nursing home into a vibrant place of life and beauty. The book excoriates the …
“A few conclusions become clear when we understand this: that our most cruel failure in how we treat the sick and the aged is the failure to recognize that they have priorities beyond merely being safe and living longer; that the chance to shape one’s story is essential to sustaining meaning in life; that we have the opportunity to refashion our …
Everyone should read this book! It helps you understand where the doctors are coming from and how you should discuss important medical decisions with them. If they don’t want to discuss, find another doctor.
Being Mortal also discusses the beginning of assisted living residences and how they developed. The author loved the ones that allowed the …
This book is a true story on how one doctor looks at modern medicine and mortality. It makes you think of how you want to live your life and how you want the end of life to be for you and your loved ones. Very interesting and touching story based on his life experiences.
As a romance writer, I read a lot of non fiction books that delve into the psychology of relationships, including the ones we have with ourselves and society. In the West, we’re not great at making ageing and dying a non medical event and Being Mortal delves into what gives more meaning to the process for the person dying and the family and …
While I was recovering from surgery after a life-threatening blockage, I shared a hospital room with a 92-year-old mother of six who had been told nothing more could be done for her cancer. The doctor recommended she enjoy the time she had left with her family. She replied with grace that she had come to terms to dying. She wanted to go home to be …
OK, the last thing you want to think about is death. Yours. This book can help, whether you’re considering that part of your life or are watching a loved one face difficult choices. It’s a sober reflection on how society treats us in our final years.
If you like humanity combined with medical information on your body and aging you will be fascinated with this book.
EVERYONE should read this book!!!!!
Fantastic book, makes you stop and look at the bigger picture and evaluate what is important to us as individuals in the moment and what really matters. Definately a book that doctors or social workers should read as professionals, but also a book that the non-clinically trained person can read, appreciate and enjoy. I learnt a great deal from …
The history of nursing homes and why we expect to live together. This author frames expectations and provides some alternative perspectives.
Dr, Gawande has written a concise and informative book about the moral issues we face with our’s and our love one’s end of life issues. In the book you will read small histories relating to the history of nursing homes, assisted living homes, palliative care and other arrangement that have originated with good intentions and then abused through …
you expect it to be depressing yet it is not . Very informative about life and history of nursing homes and ways to improve the system. a good read.
This book “Being Mortal” by Dr. Atul Gawande was written with breathtaking eloquence and compassion regarding the difficult issues of aging and dying. It reveals the ugly truth that medical professionals often prescribe the wrong approaches when dealing with their patients facing aging and the-end-of-life matters. It emphasizes the importance of …
A large portion of this book was devoted to how we care for our elderly population. Since I’m in my late 70’s, it captured many of my concerns.
Often middle-aged folks need to find a home for an elderly parent who can no longer care for themselves. Most of the assisted-living care sells the adult children on the idea of keeping mom/dad SAFE, but …
This book contains important information for everyone. We all need to take matters into our own hands as we get older. We have to be realistic and believe the only person who knows what is best for a person is that person.
I think anyone who has the hopes of one day becoming a doctor should read this book. It talks about how we as a community have failed in treating our elderly and is highly informative.
In Being Mortal, bestselling author Atul Gawande tackles the hardest challenge of his profession: how medicine can not only improve life but also the process of its ending.
check out my review on Goodreads.
This book outlines our obligations for living life well, and on our own terms. Mortality is a heavy subject, but it’s such a gift to our loved ones if we, as individuals, decide what makes life worth living, and plan our own trajectory while on the planet.