Being Mortal - Atul Gawande

Being Mortal

By Atul Gawande

  • Release Date: 2014-10-07
  • Genre: Social Science
4.5 Score: 4.5 (From 1,695 Ratings)

Book Synopsis

#1 New York Times Bestseller

In Being Mortal, bestselling author Atul Gawande tackles the hardest challenge of his profession: how medicine can not only improve life but also the process of its ending

Medicine has triumphed in modern times, transforming birth, injury, and infectious disease from harrowing to manageable. But in the inevitable condition of aging and death, the goals of medicine seem too frequently to run counter to the interest of the human spirit. Nursing homes, preoccupied with safety, pin patients into railed beds and wheelchairs. Hospitals isolate the dying, checking for vital signs long after the goals of cure have become moot. Doctors, committed to extending life, continue to carry out devastating procedures that in the end extend suffering.

Gawande, a practicing surgeon, addresses his profession's ultimate limitation, arguing that quality of life is the desired goal for patients and families. Gawande offers examples of freer, more socially fulfilling models for assisting the infirm and dependent elderly, and he explores the varieties of hospice care to demonstrate that a person's last weeks or months may be rich and dignified.

Full of eye-opening research and riveting storytelling, Being Mortal asserts that medicine can comfort and enhance our experience even to the end, providing not only a good life but also a good end.

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Latest Impressions

  • Beautiful Book

    5
    By EmsPuffin
    as a healthcare worker just entering the field, this changed my perspective so much. It prepared me and gave me a new angle to look at. such a beautiful book, I loved the scriptures and mentions of religion.
  • Insightful

    4
    By CS Walter
    The medical industry is revealed! Your health and wellbeing is paramount. This book is part memoir and part documentary. A read you’ll find changes your life if you’re not in this industry.
  • a worthwhile read

    5
    By towardzero
    this book made me cry but it also educated me and made me feel even the tiniest bit more prepared.
  • Excellent!

    5
    By Pair8hed
    A healthcare professional my entire life; this is a wonderful and powerful book.
  • I cried and I thought

    5
    By erik_walter
    With a loved one experiencing a terminal illness this book hit me very hard at times, but I’m so thankful for the messages I heard as I read it.
  • Humbling, sorrowful, and inspiring

    5
    By BeastMode1128218
    This is a book I’ll never forget. It’s made me thinks about life and death in an entirely unexpected way.
  • Being Mortal is a must read for doctors!

    5
    By Dr Cleveland
    I have had to face so many losses in my personal life already that I resonated with many of the stories. As a physician, I have also made many of the same mistakes in approaching patients with the realities of death and dying. I believe I have gained valuable perspective.
  • A great beginning to The End

    5
    By Tarheel239
    A lovely book about death. No, really. The author examines our modern attitudes and practices surrounding our aging and last days, and asks himself and us- how can we do better? Colored with poignant personal stories about the triumphs and failures of our modern ways, this book is a great introduction to thinking how we ourselves would like to spend our last days, and having those hard conversations with loved ones.
  • On death and dying

    5
    By malicorneus
    Atul Gawande asserts he is not a “facile writer.” I respectfully disagree. Perhaps the words don’t flow out as smoothly as he might wish. Perhaps they require revision once or twice or more when they do emerge. Perhaps they have to be set down and picked up and set down again before they are ready. But once they are ready, they are very good, very pertinent, very true. Death is among the most difficult of topics. Real death that is. Not dramatic death as it is portrayed in movies, either heroically or tragically. It may be heroic or it may be tragic, it may be calm or violent, accepted or fought, but it is inevitable. Dr. Gawande calls out his own profession as the would-be fixers of something that is not fixable and suggests a different approach. There are key lessons here: that those who acknowledge what is happening and choose hospice care have both better lives and longer lives as they pace out the time allotted to them. That the end time is one of coming to peace with one’s life journey. That the presence of loved ones is the most important thing at the end. I read this book some time before the passing of a close relative and it was a great help to me through that time. I could clearly see that this person, who had been so vibrant and strong through his whole life, clearly recognized that this would not be the life in front of him. He was the one who helped people. Helped them into and out of cars, up and down stairs, helped them dress, helped them eat. He was not the one being helped. That was not him. And so he let go. Being Mortal explains this. It explains that such a parting, while sad for those left behind, is the best kind of ending.
  • Outstanding and life altering

    5
    By Amy from MHD
    A whole new perspective on aging, illness and what is important in living ones life. This book is beautifully written and I am better for it. A must read for anyone growing older.