PDF Being Mortal Medicine and What Matters in the End Atul Gawande 9781250076229 Books
Download As PDF : Being Mortal Medicine and What Matters in the End Atul Gawande 9781250076229 Books
Named a Best Book of the Year by The Washington Post, The New York Times Book Review, NPR, and Chicago Tribune, now in paperback with a new reading group guide
Medicine has triumphed in modern times, transforming the dangers of childbirth, injury, and disease from harrowing to manageable. But when it comes to the inescapable realities of aging and death, what medicine can do often runs counter to what it should.
Through eye-opening research and gripping stories of his own patients and family, Gawande reveals the suffering this dynamic has produced. Nursing homes, devoted above all to safety, battle with residents over the food they are allowed to eat and the choices they are allowed to make. Doctors, uncomfortable discussing patients' anxieties about death, fall back on false hopes and treatments that are actually shortening lives instead of improving them.
In his bestselling books, Atul Gawande, a practicing surgeon, has fearlessly revealed the struggles of his profession. Now he examines its ultimate limitations and failures-in his own practices as well as others'-as life draws to a close. Riveting, honest, and humane, Being Mortal shows how the ultimate goal is not a good death but a good life-all the way to the very end.
PDF Being Mortal Medicine and What Matters in the End Atul Gawande 9781250076229 Books
"This is a timely book for me because my parents are very elderly (94 and 88) and determined to stay in their home until the last possible second. After reading this thought provoking book that teaches so much I am thinking that it may be possible for them to stay until the end which could be next week or a few years from now. It's going to take some organizing, but it looks like it is worth some research and time. It makes me sad to see how much of their independence they have lost, but they still enjoy their lives as limited as they are.
There is a tendency to treat old people like children which I realize now is usually very wrong. My dad is a diabetic and we (my siblings and I) have told him over and over that his diet of sugary cereal or cinnamon rolls and orange juice for breakfast and light store brand fruit yogurt with grapes and three cookies for lunch is not what he should be eating. He acts surprised every time we mention this, but doesn't change a thing because I now understand that he wants the independence of eating as he pleases. He has lost so much--can barely hear or see or walk, that he needs these very small pleasures to continue. I imagine he doesn't see the point in giving up anything else because he has so little left. My mother's memory is going and she has COPD, but somehow has lots of get up and go. She does a lot for my dad even though I suspect she is the sicker one. Being Mortal is making me think about the best way to help my parents which will probably start with asking them what they want.
One thing that surprised me completely was Dr. Gawande's statement that genetics is only a small part of reaching old age. Here I've been thinking that because my parents have lived so long that reaching old age is probably a no brainer for me. I have to think about that possiblity some more--a lot more.
This book has some touching stories about very sick people and how their lives ended. Unfortunately for many sick people the medical community is driven to act, but not necessarily to do what is best for the individual. It seems to me that they've forgotten "the do no harm" part of being a doctor. It seems to me it does harm people to ruin the time sick people have left.
A very through provoking book that will ultimately make me think about what I want when the end is near. I wish everyone would read it; especially medical people."
Product details
|
Tags : Being Mortal Medicine and What Matters in the End [Atul Gawande] on . Named a Best Book of the Year by The Washington Post</i>, The New York Times Book Review</i>, NPR,Atul Gawande,Being Mortal Medicine and What Matters in the End,Picador,1250076226,Death Dying,Aging - Physiological aspects,Aging.,Critical care medicine,Death.,Quality of life,Terminal care.,Nonfiction,138003 Pic Metro TPC,DEATH AND DYING (SOCIOLOGICAL ASPECTS),GENERAL,General Adult,Health Policy,MEDICAL / General,MEDICAL / Health Policy,MEDICAL / Terminal Care,Medical / Nursing,Medical/Health Policy,Non-Fiction,SOCIAL SCIENCE / Death Dying,Social Science,Social Science/Death Dying,Sociology,Sociology death dying,TERMINAL CARE MEDICINE,Terminal Care,United States,mortality; end of life care; medical care at the end of life; death and dying; quality of life; end of life issues; aging; palliative care; health care ethics; health care policy; dr atul gawande; book being mortal; atul gawande mortality; to be mortal; dying book; how to die
Being Mortal Medicine and What Matters in the End Atul Gawande 9781250076229 Books Reviews :
Being Mortal Medicine and What Matters in the End Atul Gawande 9781250076229 Books Reviews
- This is a timely book for me because my parents are very elderly (94 and 88) and determined to stay in their home until the last possible second. After reading this thought provoking book that teaches so much I am thinking that it may be possible for them to stay until the end which could be next week or a few years from now. It's going to take some organizing, but it looks like it is worth some research and time. It makes me sad to see how much of their independence they have lost, but they still enjoy their lives as limited as they are.
There is a tendency to treat old people like children which I realize now is usually very wrong. My dad is a diabetic and we (my siblings and I) have told him over and over that his diet of sugary cereal or cinnamon rolls and orange juice for breakfast and light store brand fruit yogurt with grapes and three cookies for lunch is not what he should be eating. He acts surprised every time we mention this, but doesn't change a thing because I now understand that he wants the independence of eating as he pleases. He has lost so much--can barely hear or see or walk, that he needs these very small pleasures to continue. I imagine he doesn't see the point in giving up anything else because he has so little left. My mother's memory is going and she has COPD, but somehow has lots of get up and go. She does a lot for my dad even though I suspect she is the sicker one. Being Mortal is making me think about the best way to help my parents which will probably start with asking them what they want.
One thing that surprised me completely was Dr. Gawande's statement that genetics is only a small part of reaching old age. Here I've been thinking that because my parents have lived so long that reaching old age is probably a no brainer for me. I have to think about that possiblity some more--a lot more.
This book has some touching stories about very sick people and how their lives ended. Unfortunately for many sick people the medical community is driven to act, but not necessarily to do what is best for the individual. It seems to me that they've forgotten "the do no harm" part of being a doctor. It seems to me it does harm people to ruin the time sick people have left.
A very through provoking book that will ultimately make me think about what I want when the end is near. I wish everyone would read it; especially medical people. - This book could be a game changer, if enough people read it and take it to heart. Atul Gawande addresses end-of-life care, and how we're getting it wrong, both within the medical establishment and in our families.
Dr. Gawande's book focuses both on medical procedures and living conditions in later life. He addresses the reality that as people near the end of life, decisions about their living situation are primarily aimed at ensuring safety at the expense of retaining autonomy, especially when adult children are making the decisions. "We want autonomy for ourselves and safety for those we love," a friend tells the author. We mistakenly treat elders as children, Dr. Gawande says, when we deny them the right to make choices, even bad choices. People of any age want the right to lock their doors, set the temperature they want, dress how they like, eat what they want, admit visitors only when they're in the mood. Yet, nursing homes (and even assisted living communities) are geared toward making these decisions for people in order to keep them safe, gain government funds, and ensure a routine for the facility.
In addition, Dr. Gawande shows how end-of-life physical conditions are most often treated as medical crises needing to be "fixed," instead of managed for quality of life when treatment has become futile. Life is more than just a stretch of years; it must have meaning and purpose to be worth living, he says. This is a familiar concept (in fact, I read parts of this book in The New Yorker), but he builds a strong case for reform through case studies, stories from his own life, and examples of how individuals are either becoming victims of, or bucking, the system. He addresses assisted suicide only briefly, but he mentions it in relation to end-of-life care. "Assisted living is far harder than assisted death, but its possibilities are far greater as well," he writes.
The good news is that some people are doing what they can to improve the well-being of elders nearing the end of their lives. He demonstrates the beauty of hospice care in the home. He tells a great story of a doctor who convinced a nursing home to bring in two dogs, four cats and one hundred birds! It was a risky proposal, but the rewards were phenomenal. It made the place, and the people, come alive. I am aware, though, that these movements rely on individuals, and only if enough people have a vision for change will it come about. For that reason, I hope this book makes a big splash!
