A contemplation of the limits of medical care through many specific stories of decision points about when to stop treatment in favor of palliative care. Gawande has been a physician for a long time and an activist/ writer on the side of “know when to say when” – i.e. just because medical technology exists to prolong life doesn’t mean that’s the best thing to do – for almost as long. He makes convincing cases for stopping expensive treatment and “giving life to days” more often than Hail Mary passes that might bring on the 2% chance of a cure.
The book is a readily accessibe read for many audiences and could be assigned in full or excerpted. It was also the subject of a PBS documentory that could be used to supplement class use and bring the text to life.
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Details
Language: English
Type of Story: Book
Medium: written
Contributed by: Health Story Hub Team ( health-storyhub@uiowa.edu )
Citation:
Gawande, Atul, (2014). Being mortal : Medicine and what matters in the end. New York :Metropolitan Books, Henry Holt and Company,