A Book About Living...At the End of Life!
By
Maureen Cavaiola
Posted: 2014-10-29T19:17:00Z
Atul Gawande was recently interviewed on Charlie Rose about his newest book “Being Mortal”. (One of three books reviewed on http://www.charlierose.com/watch/60466791) Dr. Gawande’s premise is that we have gotten so adept at prolonging and saving life that we are not doing the best job of enhancing the quality of life (and, incidentally, prolonging life) as we reach toward the end of life. The book talks about how to have those hard conversations with loved ones as they near the end of life. As he points out, these conversations are important. They allow the individual to maintain some control over what is happening by providing some choices as to what is happening to them.
Dr. Gawande suggests that there are ways to begin the conversations and, once begun, enrich the life of both the older loved one and the person conducting the conversation. Example of the questions he suggests are:
I’m worried that your time might be short. What is your understanding of your condition?
What outcome is not acceptable? What are you afraid of?
What are your goals?
By asking these questions and opening the door to conversation, patients often end up selecting paths for themselves that allows them choices. Those choices, while often seen as impacting health negatively, turn out to actually prolong life and create a good life…all the way to the end.