5/13/2023 0 Comments Being Mortal by Atul GawandeYet Atul and his parents - all three of them doctors - weren't sure what.Īmericans are optimists, and what place does death have in a culture of optimism? We focus on cures, not comfort. After a middle-of-the-night fall that left Atmaram unhurt but unable to get up, it became clear that something had to be done. Chemotherapy was of no benefit at this point, and the side effects of it would be miserable. He had experienced some neck pain and some numbness in his hand, which was starting to interfere with his urology practice.Ī combination of strong medical care, thoughtful decision-making and luck had allowed Atmaram Gawande to live several good years, but eventually the disease led to paralysis and pain that was more than he could tolerate safely. The diagnosis came, as all such diagnoses do, as a shock. Atmaram Gawande was in his early 70s when a tumor was discovered in his spinal cord. Three-quarters of the way through "Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End," Atul Gawande pulls back his carefully stitched curtain of reporting and research to relate the story of his father's decline and eventual death.
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