Full title is Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End. This book is written by Dr. Atul Gawande who is a surgeon and public health researcher. He has written a couple of books on his experience as a surgeon, and I’ve read most of them, but Being Mortal has haunted me every day since I first listened to the audiobook. It’s an overarching look at elderly people and geriatric care. It covers everything from nursing homes, long term care facilities, assisted living, and the decisions we make regarding healthcare of those who are old or close to the death. It may sound dry, but Gawande is an incredible writer with an honest outlook and personal accounts that make the work flow.

I work in a hospital laboratory and recently started doing microbiology work after having been a phlebotomist for a couple of years. Leaving direct patient care has been vital for me because I couldn’t emotionally handle the things I was party to. I’m not talking about gory traumas or stinky C. diff patients, but elderly people who are utterly miserable and being subjected to more testing and surgeries just to prolong their suffering. Reading this book has opened my eyes to how and why this happens to a very vulnerable population that almost all of us will become part of one day.

I recommend this book to everyone I work with. To anyone who has an elderly relative. To anyone who is going be elderly eventually. So, everyone. This book addresses how medial advancements have allowed people to live much, much longer, but at what cost?

I’ve always been interested in mortality and how different cultures view it and this book is the most comprehensive overview of American and modern healthcare and how we, as a society, treat our elderly. This book alone inspired me to go back to school and become a palliative care doctor.

So, yeah, you should read this!

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mrnatural18 t1_j8nlz2i wrote on February 15, 2023 at 5:09 PM

This book is great. Well written and very illuminating.

If you are older than 55, if you have a relative older than 55, or if you work in a helping profession you should read this book now. Everyone else can read it next week.

barney-panofsky t1_j8noq4z wrote on February 15, 2023 at 5:27 PM

Gawande has written some of the best passages I've ever read on the end stage of life. Great book.

existential_dread35 t1_j8noa8h wrote on February 15, 2023 at 5:24 PM

His perspectives on elderly and end stage care are quite refreshing. All his books are excellently, very humanely written. ‘Complications’ is another favourite.

BeneLeit t1_j8o0oy5 wrote on February 15, 2023 at 6:44 PM

I agree, this book should be read by all. Important info and so beautifully written.

urban_snowshoer t1_j8pbwzq wrote on February 15, 2023 at 11:54 PM

I read this in the not too distant past and I'll confess it was hard to read at times--end of life is not the easiest topic, whether it be for yourself or facing the realization that you're loved ones, especially if they're older, are going to be faced with the prospect of making those decisions some day.

That being said, it was an excellent read even for someone like myself who is hopefully decades (not years) away from having to get my affairs in order make those decisions.

Ndi_Omuntu t1_j8ossbq wrote on February 15, 2023 at 9:42 PM

Just adding a comment because I think comments helps boost visibility of posts!

Totally agree - I recommend this book to literally everyone. I think it's so important to think about before uncomfortable decisions actually have to be made. I even brought it up with my doctor during my physical and I'm only turning 30 this year - just to make myself get comfortable talking to a medical professional about this stuff.

At this point in my life, she said the most important thing is having conversations about these topics with people who could end up making decisions for you when you can't for whatever medical reason.

chummybuckett t1_j8s3jfn wrote on February 16, 2023 at 3:43 PM

This is one of those (audio)books I rented from Libby on the spur of the moment because it happened to be available, and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it and how thought-provoking it was. I read it around the time that I was also working a side job at a nursing home, so all of that combined made for an intriguing read.

belladonna_nectar t1_j8p3ynr wrote on February 15, 2023 at 10:57 PM

Bought it about an year ago on sale. I had high hopes, thinking it might be the type of book I love, a mix of science, (auto)biography and a bit of poetical style. Maybe I judged it too soon, but ( please don't throw stones at me), it ended up being used as a flower press :/

IcebergSlim2 t1_j8qg5se wrote on February 16, 2023 at 5:13 AM

It’s been a while, but I was totally underwhelmed. For an end of life meditation, I found it remarkably unconsidered. To have accomplished everything he did, that guy had to be wound extremely tight, be exceptionally controlled, and had to be excellent at delivering what was expected of him. That’s how the book felt to me: locked down, controlled, and exactly what you would expect from the description. Maybe that’s part of it-guys like him live in a world that self-doubt and reflection just aren’t part of, but it felt to me like we never really got behind the mask.