Being Mortal Themes

Being Mortal explores the modern experience of death and illness. As a practicing doctor and surgeon for over two decades, author Atul Gawande has seen firsthand how medical progress has lengthened and strengthened people’s lives. However, the book primarily focuses on how both patients and doctors fail to grasp and fully communicate medicine’s limits, particularly as people approach death. While doctors’ and patients’ impulses are often to pursue treatments no matter the odds of success…

Being Mortal considers the various residential options that people can choose in their last phase of life—like remaining with family, moving to an assisted living facility, or living in a nursing home—and why these options often seem unappealing. One of the key patterns Gawande finds across these options is that elderly people have to give up autonomy in the name of safety, but this makes older people feel as if they have no control…

Gawande spends much of the book providing historical context for modern end-of-life care in the United States, including the rise of hospitals and nursing homes, and the impact of Social Security and pensions on aging. By providing this background, the book explores how social, economic, and technological progress has enabled people to live much longer lives. However, this progress has also created a new host of problems surrounding people’s ability to lead satisfying lives…