Sunday, July 03, 2016

Being Mortal - the Documentary

I feel like a bit of an Atul Gawande fangirl. Since reading her book Being Mortal  a year or so ago, I recommend it to everyone as a must read.  He takes the time to not only talk about patients, but also his own family and experiences with what happens when we get older and the choices to make when we are dying.

When my own father got sick, he read this book and was able to make his own notes.  The hospice says it was the best advanced directive that they had recently read, which I said was a result of reading this book.

Over the weekend I watched the PBS Documentary Being Mortal which was a good introduction to what he is trying to talk about in the book, about being honest and finding out what people value, and how they would like their life to be at the end. When is the right time to stop chasing treatments, and spend time with loved ones is a question for all of us, and it often can be difficult for doctors to have this discussion with their patients.

It is around 55 minutes, and their are a few ads popped into the documentary which is a bit annoying, but it is a very worthwhile watch.  5/5

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