While on vacation, I finished Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande. Gawande is a doctor and writes about the conversation that should happen “in the end” with either terminally ill or elderly patients. He believes that in spite of (or in light of) all that we can do technically and medically, there is still a human being on the receiving end. He proposes a conversation (a long one, not a 10-minute-gotta-see-my-next-patient one) based on these questions:
"What is your understanding of the situation and its potential outcojmes? What are your fears and what are your hopes? What are the trade offs you are willing to make and not willing to make? And what is the course of action that best serves this understanding?"
He presents at least five cases through this lens, and most poignantly, that of his father.
I thought this was a wonderful book. I want my doctor to read it. I want my mother’s doctor to read it. Heck, I wish all doctors would read it.
It’s available in paperback and Kindle. It is also available at the library (print & audio).
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