I feel like this should be required reading for life. And especially death. I just finished the book
and think I need to wait to see how this books affects the rest of my life, but I also know I will forget important things if I don't write them down now.
Being Mortal is written by Atul Gawande, a surgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, a staff writer for The New Yorker, a professor at Harvard, etc., etc. Yet this book is so well written, honest, informative and thoughtful, it's as if he's spent his whole life writing it. In some ways, this is true, as the stories and research he shares in this book are mostly his own, or if nothing else, part of his personal/professional research.
In this book, Gawande takes a hard look at current medical practices, especially focused on how they relate to end of life care. He discusses the history of care of the old and infirm up to and including current practices. Although Old Age homes are a thing of the past in North America, even the best and most expensive nursing homes are filled with unhappy patients. He carefully and methodically outlines why this is and finds Assisted Living homes where patients are happy because they have more control over their own lives, are allowed to make bad health choices if they want, and statistically use less medication, live longer and are, more importantly, happier than their unfortunate counterparts in Nursing Homes dedicated to safe and healthy living.
I would find it difficult to recommend this book to friends and family members in end of life situations. I think some of the findings would be difficult to deal with in such stressful situations. But I hope their doctors will read this book and their family members who want to do what's best. I'm glad I read it before facing such difficult situations myself. I feel much better prepared.
 |
| www.amazon.com |
Being Mortal is written by Atul Gawande, a surgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, a staff writer for The New Yorker, a professor at Harvard, etc., etc. Yet this book is so well written, honest, informative and thoughtful, it's as if he's spent his whole life writing it. In some ways, this is true, as the stories and research he shares in this book are mostly his own, or if nothing else, part of his personal/professional research.
In this book, Gawande takes a hard look at current medical practices, especially focused on how they relate to end of life care. He discusses the history of care of the old and infirm up to and including current practices. Although Old Age homes are a thing of the past in North America, even the best and most expensive nursing homes are filled with unhappy patients. He carefully and methodically outlines why this is and finds Assisted Living homes where patients are happy because they have more control over their own lives, are allowed to make bad health choices if they want, and statistically use less medication, live longer and are, more importantly, happier than their unfortunate counterparts in Nursing Homes dedicated to safe and healthy living.
I would find it difficult to recommend this book to friends and family members in end of life situations. I think some of the findings would be difficult to deal with in such stressful situations. But I hope their doctors will read this book and their family members who want to do what's best. I'm glad I read it before facing such difficult situations myself. I feel much better prepared.
No comments:
Post a Comment