> On Jan 27, 2015, at 18:41, editors@thinkersforumusablog.org wrote:
>
>
> Subject: book review
> From:    “shoeb amin”
> Date:    Tue, January 27, 2015 8:59 am
>
> BOOK REVIEW
> Name: Being Mortal
> Author: Atul Gawande, MDPublisher: Metropolitan Books, Henry Holt
> Co.,LLCISBN: 9780805095159
> What should one do when faced with a terminal illness when routine
> treatments are either not available or have not worked? Should one go on
> and take drastic measures, no matter what the cost, side effects and go
> through at least temporary hell? Or should one accept the inevitable and
> spend the rest of the time left doing what is important? In other words do
> you choose to add years (or months) to your life or to keep life in your
> remaining years.
> And what are one’s choices when one is old and unable to care for him or
> her self? What are the choices besides a traditional nursing home?
> These are some of the questions this book wrestles with. The author is a
> surgeon out of Boston who is known for his other book “Checklist
> Manifesto” in which he proposed solutions to minimize errors in the
> medical field.
> The book describes the evolution of hospitals, nursing homes, assisted
> living facilities; how they were originally devised as a solution to an
> existing problem and how they became money making machines with no
> consideration for what the “residents” in those facilities most wanted.
> The author then goes on to describe people who came with clever and
> simple  ideas; how they bent the rules to improve the lot of the
> residents.
> The author seems to practice what he tries to preach in this book; He
> details a very personal story of his own father, who was also a doctor,
> who in his seventies was diagnosed with a rare spinal cord tumor. His
> choices were grim; surgical treatment carried the risk of quadriplegia; no
> treatment could lead to the same. Their decision making process, which
> focuses mostly on how to add life to his years is interesting.
> Some readers might find the book depressing because it lists a lot of
> cases of folks with terrible illnesses. But one gain a new perspective as
> to how to handle such asituation if one is faced with such a situation.
> Shoeb Amin
> <untitled-[2].html>

Subject: Re: [Fwd: book review]
From:    “Nasik Elahi”
Date:    Thu, January 29, 2015 10:29 pm

End of life is an issue most of us avoid until such time as disease or
events force us to confront.  DNR – do not resuscitate – is one of the
more popular modern  refrains.  It is an expression of the limits a body
should undergo to sustain the illusion of life by modern scientific means.
I had the occasion to exercise such judgment for my late sister a few
years ago and hope that my family will extend a similar judgment on my
behalf.  It is a painful choice and dr Atul Gawande does well in his book
to raise public awareness of an issue we all have to face.

Nasik elahi