Bibliograph

Being mortal, medicine and what matters in the end, Atul Gawande

Type

Label

Being mortal, medicine and what matters in the end, Atul Gawande

Language

eng

Bibliography note

Includes bibliographical references (pages 265-277)

Index

no index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

Being mortal

Nature of contents

bibliography

Responsibility statement

Atul Gawande

Sub title

medicine and what matters in the end

Summary

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

Table Of Contents

Activities of daily living -- Things fall apart -- Dependence -- Assistance -- A better life -- Letting go -- Hard conversations -- Courage

Classification