Being Mortal

This book helped me as my husband was dying. In the US today we have come to see aging issues as primarily needing a medical solution. But as a psychologist, I know aging involves far more than that. To live well to our very last days we need lives with purpose and loving relationships as well as good healthcare and financial security. Gawande's research and riveting stories show how many doctors avoid confronting the realities of the end of life issues. He points the way to a more honest, courageous, and humane approach for professionals and families, too. Everyone should… show more.

Death is the exam we all have to take. And yet not only are we afraid of it, we are afraid to talk about it. Atul Gawande is a second-generation MD, gerontologist, and surprisingly graceful writer who takes us on a compassionate journey through all topics of aging, end-of-life care, and how we deny our own mortality. We often inappropriately extend the suffering of our loved ones with excessive medical intervention because we haven’t examined our own fears. I love this book and reread it when my own mortality or a close death gives me pause. It opens our hearts… show more.

During your retirement, you may need to make difficult decisions about your health care or that of a loved one. This book is essential reading for anyone undergoing health challenges – or taking care of someone who is. It guides you to have the necessary conversations to ensure that dignity and personal control are part of health care decisions.

Atul Gawande manages to write compellingly about all manner of topics – even surgical check-lists – so when he decided to take on the hearty meat of life and death, there was no chance this book was not going to be outstanding. I recommend Being Mortal for all doctors, patients, parents, and children – yes, just about everyone. It’s the first book I’ve come across that so honestly advises, educates, and still entertains on the topic of some process we all have in common – the act of leaving this world. 

We fight death in America, insisting everyone battles to the bitter end, no matter how low quality of life drops. Gawande bravely challenges this notion, giving us permission to define what a “good life” means to us. Is it consciousness? Eating chocolate ice cream? Living at home? He encourages each of us to draw our line in the sand, a refreshing and clarifying exercise for readers at any stage of life.

Atul Gawande is a surgeon, a staff writer for the New Yorker, who wrote this influential book inspired by both his work at the cutting edge of medicine and as a son with ailing parents. His work forces us to confront our mortality, and the health system designed to provide a false promise of immortality.

Gawande takes a compelling look at the medical profession, making the case that quality of life can take precedence over merely extending life by any medical means or invasive procedures that are available. He shares examples of ways our society can more responsibly care for its elderly, preserving dignity and a good life until death.