On Atul Gawande’s ‘Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End’

Gawande’s research shows us the importance of binding empathy and love to the discourse of medicine, waning years, and death.

Atul Gawande
Non-Fiction | Medicine
304 Pages
5.5” x 8.2”
Perfectbound Trade Paperback
Reprint Edition (September 5, 2017)
Also available in eBook formats
ISBN 9781250076229
Picador
New York, New York, USA
Available HERE
$16.00

Death is a normal part of life. Though it is inevitable, discourse surrounding the afterlife is full of speculation. Our fear of dying has caused our society to create new ways of staying alive for a number of years longer than nature has allowed us in the past. Through personal stories and research, Atul Gawande’s bestselling book shows us the importance of binding empathy and love to such a dark subject.

Discussing a fantasy was easier — less emotional, less explosive, less prone to misunderstanding — than discussing what was happening before my eyes.

(p. 169)

The writing style offers a compassionate take on a scientific pursuit. Scholarly subjects, historical reviews, and research projects are presented with kindness, empathy, and self-reflection. Sometimes academic subjects create a professional distance between the writer and the reader. Gawande is able to remove all scholastic boundaries and to create a compelling and thought-provoking narrative surrounding the intertwining of medicine, empathy, and mortality.

We are going through a societal learning curve, one person at a time. And that would include me, whether as a doctor or as simply a human being.

(p. 193)

Gawande explores the history and implications of different forms of addressing what to do with those whose health is declining. One of the major parts of the book centers around the history and implications of hospice care. There are stories presented of folks who did not move until it was a last-ditch effort to maintain life. Some nursing homes are treated as an outcast place for the elderly. People only go there because society has no idea where else they could go. Other places decide to create apartment-style living that is more community-oriented than hospice-focused. They closely maintain the mental health of those who live in nursing homes, and find that if they are able to give the residents autonomy and a reason to live, their health improves more than if they are given only medications and surgeries. My personal favorite part of the book is the telling of Bill Thomas, a medical director of a retirement home, who decided to fill the nursing home with plants, children, and animals. Gawande creates an exciting and fun image of the experiment:

That fall they moved in a greyhound named Target, a lapdog named Ginger, the four cats, and the birds. They threw out all their artificial plants and put live plants in every room. Staff members brought their kids to hang out after school; friends and family put in a garden at the back of the home and a playground for the kids. It was shock therapy.

(p. 120)

Even though parts of the book are characterized with positive moments, there are deeply emotional times, as well. Gawande gets to know his patients, becomes close to them, then has to watch as their bodies slowly turn against them. Sometimes disease overcomes, and he cannot prescribe the right medication to save them. Other times, the patients are able to defeat the odds, and appreciate the time they have left on this earth. Despite the years of practice he has working in the medical field, no amount of patients are able to save Gawande from his own confrontation with terminal illness. Through touching descriptions of his relationship with his father, we are able to see his transition from educated doctor to concerned son as his father’s health quickly declines. It serves as a reminder that it is important to spend time with loved ones and listen to what they need in times of tribulation.