It’s the ‘life’ in end-of-life that matters
Prompted by Atul Gawande’s New Yorker essay (“Letting Go,” which addresses similar themes as his book, Being Mortal), the author reflects on two experiences he had as a resident in the NICU, one in which all possible medical treatment was pursued inappropriately and another in which extra-ordinary measures were not applied so that a family could spend a final day with a fatally ill newborn. The author blames the broader medical system, and says his frustrations with that system led him to his current occupation as a health services researcher.
In contrast to end-of-life stories that involve elderly patients or terminally ill adults, this blog post provides vivid examples of NICU treatment decision-making.