Being A Practicing Surgeon, Atul Gawande Essay - 1699 Words

Being a practicing surgeon, Atul Gawande approaches the dilemma of aging from a unique perspective. The study and implementation of traditional medical practices, he suggests, contributes to a problem solving, solution-based approached to over coming the hurdles of old age. The medical field, he says, puts the entirety of its focus on fixing the concrete problems that patients come into the emergency room with, instead of focusing on the best overall solution to satisfy the patients primary desires at the end of life. It is a very valid and important point. Why put tens of thousands of dollars into a chemotherapy treatment plan to lengthen a persons life, if it only ends up yielding a few extra weeks and causes tremendously more pain and suffering? At what point does being alive become not worth it, especially when the patient sees not benefit, but more suffering? This is the issue within the modern medical system that bridges the gap with medicine and aging studies. Aging studies, w ith its theories and concepts, hopes to present a solution to the problem that Gawande points out in such detail and with so many personal examples. How can the things that are most important to the patient be provided without all the intrusiveness and extraordinary expenditures of our healthcare mentality? In summary, aging studies seeks to mend the discontinuity between the stone-faced objectivity of medical solutions and, as Gawande puts it, â€Å"what matters in the end†. Being Mortal, in one wayShow MoreRelatedThe Soul Of A Doctor Essay1752 Words   |  8 Pagesnurse, and anytime I would wait for her shift to end in the office, I would watch her do tons of paperwork that took up to three hours to complete. It drove me insane, but as I grew older, much older, I realized I wanted to help people. My idea of being a doctor expanded when I would read many articles on social media about their experiences that made them become some of the best doctors in the world today. When it came time to pick out my summer reading book, I had two choices. The first book wasRead MoreA Research Study On Situational Blindness Essay1723 Words   |  7 PagesIt is truly fascinating the amount of trauma and mutilation that one human being can endure. Subdural hematoma, aortic rupture, diabetic ketoacidosis, internal and external blast injuries, acute myocardial infarction, or even third degree burns are no match for modern medicine. In times past, these conditions or injuri es were beyond the physicians control and presumed fatal to the individual. However, survival percentages are now higher, and can be attributed to medical advancement and the use ofRead MoreTheme Of Being Mortal1271 Words   |  6 PagesBeing Mortal and its Consequences 1. Introduction In Being Mortal, Atul Gawande uses his experiences as a surgeon, professor and public health professional to discuss many facets of Western end-of-life care and the process of growing old in a modern age. Overall, I have found that three overpowering themes in this novel are security versus autonomy, a need for pragmatism surrounding the concept of death, and our medicalized society’s devaluation of hospice and palliative care. Regarding these themesRead More Increased Patient Responsibility1565 Words   |  7 PagesPatients visit their doctors expecting to be diagnosed, prescribed, and treated. For several patients, this optimistic outlook is in fact the order of things. But, for many others, medicine is an experimental endeavor and very human in nature. Atul Gawande, in his collection of essays entitled Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science, sheds light on this view of medicine as a field of possibilities and dead ends, improvements and failures. 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In his introduction, Gawande points to the weekly seminar he attended, â€Å"calle d Patient-Doctor—part of the school’s effort to make us more rounded and humane physicians†, indicating that, in his case, â€Å"the purpose of medical schooling was to teach how to save lives, not how to tend to their demise†. Furthermore, Gawande explainsRead MoreHistory Of American Medical Ethics825 Words   |  4 Pagesâ€Å"45% of pediatric residents queried in a 2004 study rated their ethics education as fair to poor (Kesselheim et al).† From an individual perspective, Dr. Atul Gawander, in his book, Being Mortal (2014), drives home several important points as a 50-year-old practicing surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. In his introduction, -Gawande points to the weekly seminar he attended, â€Å"called Patient-Doctor—part of the school’s effort to make us more rounded and humane physicians†, indicating thatRead MoreThe History Of Surgery : Surgery1581 Words   |  7 Pages10/1/15 The History of Surgery We’ve come a long way in medicine but the beginning was rough and painful. But what is surgery? Surgery is a profession defined by its authority to cure by means of bodily invasion. The risks of cutting into a living human being have always been feared, the benefits have only climbed slowly up and soon started to show improvements. But the changes to surgery have proved the development of the human races ability to heal their own. Surgery today is probably no longer theRead MoreStephen P. Robbins Timothy A. 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