Being Mortal: Quotes
Medicine and What Matters in the End
Book by Atul Gawande
Want to read the full summary?Click here to read for free!
Summary
In "Being Mortal," surgeon Atul Gawande argues that medicine must shift its focus from simply extending life to enabling well-being, especially for the elderly and terminally ill, by helping patients and families courageously face mortality and define what matters most in their final days.
Sign in to rate
Average rating: 5 (2 ratings)
These are the best quotes from Being Mortal by Atul Gawande. If you want to read a full summary of this book for free, click here.
The Job of a Doctor
"We imagine our job is to ensure health and survival. But really it is larger than that. It is to enable well-being."
Gawande argues that the job of doctors is more than just ensuring health and survival - it's enabling overall well-being, especially at the end of life. This requires understanding patients' priorities beyond just living longer and working to achieve what matters most to them.
Section: 1, Chapter: 1
"We want autonomy for ourselves and safety for those we love."
"We want autonomy for ourselves and safety for those we love."
For ourselves, we prioritize independence and the freedom to make our own choices, even risky ones, over safety. But when it comes to our aging parents, safety often becomes the driving priority, even at the cost of their autonomy and quality of life.
This leads children to push for assisted living or nursing homes sooner than their parents want. And it shapes those facilities to be more like hospitals than homes. Resolving this tension will require a societal shift to truly prioritize quality of life over mere survival for the elderly. Otherwise, assisted living will continue to fall short of its promise to make life in old age a joy.
Section: 1, Chapter: 4
Our Cruelest Failure
"Our most cruel failure in how we treat the sick and aged is the failure to recognize that they have priorities beyond merely being safe and living longer."
Section: 1, Chapter: 6
People Die Only Once
"People die only once. They have no experience to draw on. They need doctors and nurses who are willing to have the hard discussions and say what they have seen."
Section: 1, Chapter: 7
What is Courage
"Courage is strength in the face of knowledge of what is to be feared or hoped. Wisdom is prudent strength."
Section: 1, Chapter: 8
Some links are affiliate links. Summrize may earn a commission if you buy through them.
🔗 Goodreads🔗 Amazon🔗 Support Local Bookstores!