Being Mortal By Atul Gawande Character Analysis

Being Mortal is a book written by surgeon Atul Gawande about the limitations of current healthcare in handling patients who are declining toward death, something that he feels is not taught properly to those caring for them. In the book, Gawande (2014) wrote, “…When I came to experience surgical training and practice, I encountered patients forced to confront the realities of decline and mortality, and it did not take long to realize how unready I was to help them” (p. 3). His sentiments describe what many healthcare professionals feel, which in a society that is trending up in age and health issues, is a major hindrance in caring for these patients.
Gawande tells that story of Sara Thomas Monopoli, a woman thirty-nine weeks pregnant with
However, at some point, it becomes essential that doctors and other providers talk to their patients about how their disease will progress and their prognosis and also discuss options outside of drugs and chemotherapy. One solution that can solve the problem is ensuring that doctors sit down and talk to their patients about end of life care. It is imperative to know the patient’s wishes in order to provide the best patient-centered care; however, many doctors avoid these discussions due to a number of reasons, one of the most cited being afraid of how the discussion will impact the patient’s psychological status. One study looked at the impact that these discussions had on the patient’s mental health, care towards end-of-life and caregiver bereavement. They found that patients who had end-of-life discussions did not suffer any psychological harm and had less emotional distress and psychiatric disorders than those who did not have these discussions. Additionally, the discussions led to less aggressive treatment in the final week of life associated with a higher quality of life and caregivers who showed less regret and a higher quality of life (Wright, et al.,
1). In order for healthcare to truly advance and provide patient-centered care, it is necessary that our clinicians start to have end-of-life discussions with patients and be willing to provide care aimed at improving quality of life. It should all start with education about death and dying and continue with methods to further improve knowledge on options such as palliative care and the importance of discussing the patient’s