Being Mortal

I saw this book on an AMA list of the 10 books that physicians should read. Atul Gawande is a Harvard-educated physician, and he has produced a remarkable book that looks at end-of-life treatment issues and how we’ve gotten so much wrong, both within the medical establishment and in our families. He provides specific and poignant case examples, and he supports his arguments with excellent data. This is a remarkably compassionate book about this most difficult matter. I vividly remember the extreme awkwardness of trying to deal with these issues during my medical school, internship, and residency years – but attending doctors, hospital administrators, and families all struggle to face decisions about the end of mortality, problems that they’ve been ignoring or avoiding all along. Gawande’s book is important, not only to physicians, but to all of us as we get older and face our inevitable age-related decline. By not directly facing the reality of aging and dying, we only end up doing more harm. Take the time to read this book.