Being Mortal

by

Atul Gawande

Gawande’s Father Character Analysis

Gawande’s father is a surgeon who immigrated from a rural village in India to pursue opportunity in America. He is largely healthy until his 70s, when he starts to experience neck pain and tingling fingertips. Over the next few years, the pain progresses and numbness spreads through his left hand. An MRI reveals that he has a tumor in his spinal cord, and Gawande’s father immediately sees two expert surgeons. The first suggests he have surgery to remove the tumor as soon as possible, downplaying the possible complications. But the second, Edward Benzel, identifies Gawande’s father’s priorities. Knowing how important Gawande’s father’s job is to him, and seeing that Gawande’s father is more afraid of becoming quadriplegic as a result of the surgery than of the problems the tumor is causing, Benzel suggests that Gawande’s father wait to have surgery. This allows Gawande’s father to continue his surgery practice for two additional years. Then, only when he starts to lose strength and have trouble walking, does he decide to undergo surgery. This prompts Gawande and his father to have a difficult conversation about the kind of life that is worthwhile to him, and Gawande’s father impresses on his son that he doesn’t want to be a burden, doesn’t want to become quadriplegic, and doesn’t want to be put on a ventilator or feeding tube. This conversation, while difficult, is immensely important when complications arise during Gawande’s father’s operation, and Gawande guides Benzel to go through with the surgery because that has a better chance of preventing Gawande’s father from becoming quadriplegic. Luckily, the surgery goes well and Gawande’s father doesn’t lose any motor function. However, gradually the cancer does grow despite the surgery. He refuses to get any more treatments, instead receiving hospice care and focusing on time with his family. The hospice care greatly reduces his suffering, and in the end, he dies surrounded by his wife and children. Gawande states that helping his father through this difficult time was painful, but also incredibly fulfilling as his father lived and died the way he wanted to.

Gawande’s Father Quotes in Being Mortal

The Being Mortal quotes below are all either spoken by Gawande’s Father or refer to Gawande’s Father. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Medicine, Survival, and Well-being Theme Icon
).
Chapter 7 Quotes

In truth, neither type is quite what people desire. We want information and control, but we also want guidance. The Emanuels described a third type of doctor-patient relationship, which they called “interpretive.” Here the doctor’s role is to help patients determine what they want. Interpretive doctors ask, “What is most important to you? What are your worries?” Then, when they know your answers, they tell you about the red pill and the blue pill and which one would most help you achieve your priorities.

Related Characters: Dr. Atul Gawande (speaker), Dr. Edward Benzel (speaker), Gawande’s Father, Sara Monopoli
Page Number: 201
Explanation and Analysis:

I realized then that my father had already told us what to do, just as Susan Block’s father had. My dad was more afraid of becoming quadriplegic than of dying. I therefore asked Benzel which posed the greater risk of his becoming quadriplegic in the next couple months: stopping or proceeding? Stopping, he said. We told him to proceed.

Related Characters: Dr. Atul Gawande (speaker), Dr. Edward Benzel (speaker), Gawande’s Father, Jack, Susan Block, Gawande’s Mother
Page Number: 213-213
Explanation and Analysis:

We witnessed for ourselves the consequences of living for the best possible day today instead of sacrificing time now for time later. He’d become all but wheelchair bound. But his slide into complete quadriplegia halted. He became more able to manage short distances with a walker. His control of his hands and his arm strength improved. He had less trouble calling people on the phone and using his laptop. The greater predictability of his day let him have more visitors over. Soon he even began hosting parties at our house again. He found that in the narrow space of possibility that his awful tumor had left for him there was still room to live.

Related Characters: Dr. Atul Gawande (speaker), Gawande’s Father
Page Number: 229
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8 Quotes

When our time is limited and we are uncertain about how best to serve our priorities, we are forced to deal with the fact that both the experiencing self and the remembering self matter. We do not want to endure long pain and short pleasure. Yet certain pleasures can make enduring suffering worthwhile. The peaks are important, and so is the ending.

Related Characters: Dr. Atul Gawande (speaker), Gawande’s Father, Jewel Douglass, Sara Monopoli
Page Number: 239
Explanation and Analysis:
Epilogue Quotes

When I was a child, the lessons my father taught me had been about perseverance: never to accept limitations that stood in my way. As an adult watching him in his final years, I also saw how to come to terms with limits that couldn’t simply be wished away. When to shift from pushing against limits to making the best of them is not often readily apparent. But it is clear that there are times when the cost of pushing exceeds its value. Helping my father through the struggle to define that moment was simultaneously among the most painful and most privileged experiences of my life.

Related Characters: Dr. Atul Gawande (speaker), Gawande’s Father
Page Number: 262
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Being Mortal LitChart as a printable PDF.
Being Mortal PDF

Gawande’s Father Quotes in Being Mortal

The Being Mortal quotes below are all either spoken by Gawande’s Father or refer to Gawande’s Father. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Medicine, Survival, and Well-being Theme Icon
).
Chapter 7 Quotes

In truth, neither type is quite what people desire. We want information and control, but we also want guidance. The Emanuels described a third type of doctor-patient relationship, which they called “interpretive.” Here the doctor’s role is to help patients determine what they want. Interpretive doctors ask, “What is most important to you? What are your worries?” Then, when they know your answers, they tell you about the red pill and the blue pill and which one would most help you achieve your priorities.

Related Characters: Dr. Atul Gawande (speaker), Dr. Edward Benzel (speaker), Gawande’s Father, Sara Monopoli
Page Number: 201
Explanation and Analysis:

I realized then that my father had already told us what to do, just as Susan Block’s father had. My dad was more afraid of becoming quadriplegic than of dying. I therefore asked Benzel which posed the greater risk of his becoming quadriplegic in the next couple months: stopping or proceeding? Stopping, he said. We told him to proceed.

Related Characters: Dr. Atul Gawande (speaker), Dr. Edward Benzel (speaker), Gawande’s Father, Jack, Susan Block, Gawande’s Mother
Page Number: 213-213
Explanation and Analysis:

We witnessed for ourselves the consequences of living for the best possible day today instead of sacrificing time now for time later. He’d become all but wheelchair bound. But his slide into complete quadriplegia halted. He became more able to manage short distances with a walker. His control of his hands and his arm strength improved. He had less trouble calling people on the phone and using his laptop. The greater predictability of his day let him have more visitors over. Soon he even began hosting parties at our house again. He found that in the narrow space of possibility that his awful tumor had left for him there was still room to live.

Related Characters: Dr. Atul Gawande (speaker), Gawande’s Father
Page Number: 229
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8 Quotes

When our time is limited and we are uncertain about how best to serve our priorities, we are forced to deal with the fact that both the experiencing self and the remembering self matter. We do not want to endure long pain and short pleasure. Yet certain pleasures can make enduring suffering worthwhile. The peaks are important, and so is the ending.

Related Characters: Dr. Atul Gawande (speaker), Gawande’s Father, Jewel Douglass, Sara Monopoli
Page Number: 239
Explanation and Analysis:
Epilogue Quotes

When I was a child, the lessons my father taught me had been about perseverance: never to accept limitations that stood in my way. As an adult watching him in his final years, I also saw how to come to terms with limits that couldn’t simply be wished away. When to shift from pushing against limits to making the best of them is not often readily apparent. But it is clear that there are times when the cost of pushing exceeds its value. Helping my father through the struggle to define that moment was simultaneously among the most painful and most privileged experiences of my life.

Related Characters: Dr. Atul Gawande (speaker), Gawande’s Father
Page Number: 262
Explanation and Analysis: