Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End

Review:

It is not often that a book stays with you long after you have finished it. And how often do you come across a book that you want to have extra copies so you can pass them out to friends? Or find a book that you want to read over and over again? Well, I have such a book for you. Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End, by Atul Gawande. This book is not just about death and dying, but also about the importance of dying with dignity.

One part looks at elder care. For instance, it points out things that can make a huge difference to people’s happiness and quality of life once they find it difficult to look after themselves as they are entering into their declining stage of life. The author explains how important it is to have choices in our declining years. His research shows that the elderly need to be helpful, and to feel they have a purpose each and every day. In other words, they realize they can no longer care for themselves but they need something to make their lives worth living. Simply taking care of their safety is not enough. Eldercare facilities often fail because their residents are bored, lonely and feel helpless.

The book goes into detail about death, and the difficult medical decisions patients and their families face. The actual process of dying is discussed. Doctors are taught how to cure patients and prolong life, but they are not taught how to prepare patients and their families for end of life decisions. Through his own patients, the author learned that it is important to die with dignity and what important questions to ask patients about what they want as they are dying. Two important questions to ask the terminally ill are “what are you willing to do to stay alive” and “what do you want to be able to do when you are near death”? Sometimes hospice can actually lengthen a person’s life, as opposed to life-sustaining measures.

My come-away from this book? At the end of our life, we care little about money or success. We usually do not want to use whatever measure to live longer. Above all, we want more of life’s simplicities: the beauty of a garden, the taste of good food, the sound of a friend’s voice, the feeling hand of a loved one. Similarly, we care about the quality of our lives. We want to help others even if we can not take care of ourselves.  I hope I always remember this.

This book was first published in October 2014. I wish it had been published earlier so that I could have been better equipped to deal with my parents’ deaths. In conclusion, I recommend this book to everyone.

My rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Author:

• YouTube video from 2014 where renowned surgeon Atul Gawande talks about his book Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lSIUKKYXrE
• Author’s website:   http://atulgawande.com/about/ 

Book Discussion Questions:

• http://www.transforminghealth.org/stories/Being%20Mortal%20discussion%20questions.pdf
• https://lasvegasnonfictionbookclub.blog/2015/08/17/being-mortal-by-atul-gawande-discussion-questions/

Book Reviews:

• The New York Times:   https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/17/arts/being-mortal-by-atul-gawande.html
• Kirkus Review: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/atul-gawande/being-mortal/