Being Mortal

ear.“It’s okayto letgo,” hesaid. “Youdon’t haveto fight anymore. I will see you soon.” Laterthatmorning,herbreathingchanged,slow ...

7 •Hard Conversations Traveling abroad sometime afterward, I fell into a conversationwithtwodoctorsfromUgandaandawriter from Sou ...

finding,forexample,thathalfoftheelderlyovereighty years old now die in the hospital and even higher percentagesofthoselessthanei ...

sincethenineties thenumbershavereverseddirection. Useofhospicecarehasbeengrowing steadily—tothe point that, by 2010, 45 percent ...

energy. He did numerous charity projects, including working with a rural Indian college he’d established, expanding itfrom a sin ...

That was the moment when we stepped through the looking glass. Nothing about my father’s life and expectationsfor itwouldremain ...

myparents’home,andoneatmyhospitalinBoston.We made appointments at both places. Bothsurgeonsofferedsurgery.Theywouldopenupthe spi ...

handtototalparalysisovernight.Thequestiontherefore waswhentogoin,andhebelievedthatshouldbewhen thesituationbecameintolerableenou ...

numerousquestionsabouthowexactlyitwouldbedone. Whatkindofinstrumentdoyouusetoenterthespinal cord,heasked?Doyouuseamicroscope?How ...

Myfathersaidhewasright.Myfatherdidn’twanttorisk losing his ability to practice surgery for the sake of treatmentofuncertainbenef ...

time would tell which of thetwo surgeons wasright. Nonetheless,Benzel hadmade theefforttounderstand whatmyfathercaredaboutmost,a ...

ethicists, Ezekiel and Linda Emanuel,on the different kindsofrelationshipsthatwe,asbuddingnewclinicians, mighthavewithourpatient ...

operations,therisksthatyouwantandaccept.Youhave complete autonomy. The neurosurgeon at my hospital in Boston showed elements of ...

andthemoreinformativeone.Yet,lessthantwodecades later,herewewerewithmyfather,inaneurosurgeon’s office in Cleveland, Ohio, talkin ...

Informative was clearly not sufficient to help Sara Monopoli or the many other seriously ill patients I’d had. Aroundthetimeofmy ...

ofvarious kindstheyweretolerable.Afollow-up scan showedthetreatmenthadn’tworked,though.Thetumors grew. They began giving her sho ...

thatwouldresolveonlywithsurgerytoeitherremoveor bypasstheobstruction.Eitherway,itwasatroublingsign oftheadvancement of hercancer ...

She’dgraspedthegrimbasicsperfectly.Atthispoint,we hadnoespeciallydifficultdecisionstomake.Itoldher therewasachancethatthiswasjus ...

smalltalk,andherfamilytoldmeabitabouther.She’d once been a singer. She became Miss Massachusetts 1956.Afterward,NatKingColeasked ...

Theyweresuchsimplewords,butitwasn’thardtosense howmuchtheycommunicated.Ihadgivenherthefacts. ButbyincludingthefactthatIwasworrie ...