I’m recommending a book by Dr. Atul Gawande entitled Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End. Dr. Gawande’s thesis is that many people in the U.S. spend their last few weeks undergoing expensive and ultimately futile medical procedures when what they really want is to be surrounded by family and friends, enjoying what they can of their last days on earth.
Few of us want to end up in a “nursing home,” where the main goal seems to be to prolong life with little concern about the quality of life being prolonged.
Ever since I had a pacemaker installed last December, I’ve thought a good deal about death. What Being Mortal suggests is that the end time, while not easy, doesn’t haves to be something experienced in a sterile room with tubes and machines and fluorescent lights. There are better ways of dying.
Are you re-thinking your personal philosophies on life?
ReplyDeleteNot really. I do think that toward the end we start to realize what is important and what is fluff. And I can tell you that atheists realize that you only have one opportunity to make the world a better place and be remembered as someone who did that.
ReplyDelete