A Grand Grand Rounds

I participated in a panel discussion of Atul Gawande’s book, “Being Mortal” at my hospital today.  It was an honor to be asked, and to participate with several community physicians, and a nurse.  In the audience were physicians, nurses, social workers, chaplains, and community citizens who were interested.  The discussion was lively, centered around the…

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Walking And Giving: Emily’s Definition of Well-Being

Near the end of his wonderful book, Being Mortal, author and physician Atul Gawande writes, “our most cruel failure in how we treat the sick and the aged is the failure to recognize that they have priorities beyond merely being safe and living longer; that the chance to shape one’s story is essential to sustaining…

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Decline: Unsafe At Any Speed

I’m rereading Atul Gawande’s wonderful book Being Mortal, in preparation for a panel discussion that I’m participating in this April. Gawande talks about the decline that everyone undergoes as they advance in age, and how at some point, the decline simply overwhelms our ability to adapt, and we can no longer care for ourselves.  I’ve…

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