Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End

How we make end of life decisions is still hampered by our need to have answers, to prolong life. Doctors offer us information, explaining what the red pill does vs the blue pill. In a telling moment, Atul Gawande along with his mother is listening to the attending doctor explain possible treatment options for his ailing father. All three Gawande's are doctors themselves but found the options confusing and difficult to parse.

Outlining treatment options isn't as important as considering how we want to end our lives. What comes through in the book is that, for terminal patients, the cure is often worse than the disease. That prolonging life comes at the cost of the quality of that time.

Gawande also spends time on elder care facilities and their need to better cater to the lives being lived there. Autonomy, privacy and possessions trump schedules, spartan arrangements and concessions made in the name of safety.

Gawande is a warm writer with a wonderful bedside manner. I've already gifted this book to my folks, even though they've got years to go, to better discuss what's important to them as they age.