The best books for enhancing kindness and dignity in healthcare

Oh, how I loved this book. It is the true story of her experience as a critical care physician at Detroit’s Henry Ford Hospital, becoming, in an instant, a critically ill patient. What captivates me is the beauty of the writing–it reads like a novel–and her bravery in writing it.

Cared for in her own hospital, she writes not only about how the medical staff saved her life but also how it often undermined her dignity, especially with the language used in her presence, such as, “She is circling the drain.” Dr. Awdish’s experience changed her as a physician; reading her story supercharged my passion for improving kindness and dignity in patient care.

Being Mortal exposes the often-inhumane ways “modern healthcare” cares for older people who are ill. Too often, we send older people to soulless institutionalized living facilities, overtreat them with medications and procedures, and undertreat them with kindness and dignity.

We can do much better in caring for chronically ill elderly people, and Gawande makes a strong case for doing so in this beautifully written book. I assign this book for my healthcare seminar, and it often emboldens students to intervene in the healthcare and living experiences of elderly family members. It happens every semester. I love it!

I love this book because it conveys that life-limiting disease need not be a grim, bleak, hopeless experience of physical and emotional pain. People are alive until they are not. Dr. Stuart, an internist specializing in end-of-life care, merges patients’ stories and humane wisdom to show how facing death can be emotionally and spiritually restorative.

When patients are supported by clinicians armored with love rather than technology, who ardently believe in healing the human spirit even when healing the body is impossible, the last days can be some of the best days.

This is a much-needed book written with grace, insight, and feeling. Dr. Nuila is a physician at Ben Taub, Houston’s biggest hospital primarily serving medically vulnerable, low-income patients.

Every page of this book is about assuring kind, dignified healthcare for the poor. As Nuila writes: “… I try to find my patients’ stories. It’s my favorite part of being a doctor. I don’t mean their medical histories. I mean the circumstances of their lives. All of the information helps me to better empathize with them, but the stories also make medical care more efficient, more personal…” (p.14).

If you believe that access to quality healthcare is a right and not a privilege, as I do, then I urge you to read this marvelous book that teaches, inspires, and reminds us of healthcare’s true mission.

I loved this book because it builds from the sadness of a life taken far too young to the beauty of deep reflections on the meaning of life, love, and loss. Paul Kalanithi was a brilliant neurosurgeon just completing his years of training when he was diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer.

Kalanithi, a new father, wrote much of this book while he was dying. As a writer myself, this book caused me to wonder if I could be so open about my reality, in a book or any other form, while dying. I do not know the answer, but I treasure the experience of having read a book that raised such a powerful stirring in myself. Like the other books I recommend, Kalanithi’s memoir is a gift from the book Gods.