Being Mortal

Peoplewithseriousillnesshaveprioritiesbesidessimply prolonging their lives. Surveys find that their top concerns include avoidin ...

observed, people generally experienced life-threatening illness the way they experienced bad weather—as somethingthatstruckwithl ...

hasmadeitalmostimpossibletobesurewhothedying evenare?Issomeonewithterminalcancer,dementia,or incurable heart failure dying, exac ...

centuriesofexperience,tradition,andlanguageaboutour mortalityandcreatedanewdifficultyformankind:how to die. ONESPRINGFRIDAYmorni ...

thirty-footlengthofoxygentubingtrailingafterher,had leftherwinded.Shestoodrestingforamoment,herlips pursed and her chest heaving ...

upthemedicinewhenshecamehomefromwork.She also called the nebulizer supplier for same-day emergency service. She then chatted wit ...

“Call you.” “Where’s the number?” Shepointedtothetwenty-four-hourhospicecallnumber that was taped beside her phone. Outside,Icon ...

moment—when theyhaveunderstood thatthey havea fatalillnessbutnot necessarilyacknowledgedthatthey aredying.“I’d sayonly aboutaqua ...

“I wishwe’d gotten involved sooner,” Creedtoldme. Whensheandthehospice’ssupervisingdoctor,JoAnne Nowak,evaluatedGallowayuponhisa ...

duty,whowouldprovideinstructionsaboutwhichrescue medications to use and, if necessary, come out to help. DaveandSharonwerefinall ...

Davesatontheedgeofhisbedinfreshpajamas,catching his breath, and Creed spoke to him as his daughter, Ashlee,raninandoutoftheroomi ...

wishesandcalled 911 insteadofthehospiceservice.The emergency medical technicians and firefighters and policerushedin.Theypulledo ...

might becoming soon,that theremight be noway to slowthedisease,“wasnotsomethingsheorIwantedto discuss,” her mother said. Herfath ...

haveaname,justanumber—PF0231006—andthismade it all the more enticing. Therewereafewhoveringissues,includingthefactthat thescient ...

thinkingtentotwentyyears.Youhearthattimeandtime again. And I’d be the same way if I were in their shoes.” You’dthinkdoctorswould ...

hadspread tothelymphnodesofher neck,andIwas called in to decide whether to operate. This second, unrelatedcancerwasinfactoperabl ...

madeunderherdress.Shewasreadytotryanything,and Ifoundmyselffocusingonthenewsaboutexperimental therapies for her lung cancer. Aft ...

sizescatteredacrossbothhemispheres.Theexperimental drugwasnotdesignedto crosstheblood-brainbarrier. PF0231006 was not going to w ...

survivalofonlyeightmonthsafterdiscovery,”hewrote. Thenewswasdevastating.Butthenhebeganlookingat the graphs of the patient-surviv ...

failed to prepare for the outcome that’s vastly more probable. The trouble is that we’ve built our medical systemandculturearoun ...