Being Mortal by Atul Gawande

Atul Gawande, a Boston surgeon has now written three bestselling books on the medical field.  Oliver Sacks hailed him as one of "the finest physician writers." Gawande subtitled this work "Medicine and What Matters in the End."  Medicine is the miracle of modern health care.  It has transformed our expectations and eased our worries about childbirth, injury and disease.  We live in a time when people live longer, an older generation anticipates enjoying the golden years being cared for and in reasonable health.

But the end will come, no matter.  Death is the enemy and death will win.  And the simple fact is that modern medicine and the most sophisticated surgical procedures may not always be the best option.  Gawande shares poignant and agonizing stories of his own patients facing mortality.  They include his father who was also a physician.  But these stories also share a sense of peace in the most fateful moments.

While Being Mortal is a clear-eyed look at aging, it is also a candid examination of the medical community.  We rely on doctors to save and extend life in our most advanced years.  But few medical students take classes in geriatrics.  What choices do they give to the elderly at the end of their lives?  Is death even discussed?  What does a doctor, committed to saving life, say when faced with an unfixable problem?  Perhaps Gawande says it best:  "We've been wrong about what our job is in medicine.  We think it is to ensure health and survival.  But really it is about well-being.  And well-being is about the reasons one wishes to be alive."

Also available is the PBS documentary Being Mortal.