At Washington University in St. Louis, I took a creative non-fiction writing class taught by David Schuman, the university’s director of the creative writing program. In one of the course’s classes we discussed writing about the void. David Schuman defined the void as experiences humans undergo that no one is able to describe in writing. The void includes universal human experiences such as death, love, and hate. During that class, he drew a circle on the board. In the middle of the circle, he wrote, “VOID”. Schuman explained to the class that as a writer, no one would ever be able to describe the void, however, we are just able to dance around the topic—just wetting our feet in the topic. Schuman believes that it is the dance around the void …show more content…
Death is one thing that is universal to all humans and equates us to other living things. As When Breath Becomes Air is about one doctor’s account of coming to terms with his mortality, I would recommend this book to the general public. I do not believe that this book is written specifically for doctors or pre-medical students, yet for anyone who struggles or enjoys thinking about the voids in life. However, this book does lend special meaning to people in the medical profession. Dr. Paul Kalanithi has important insight for doctors, such as “As a doctor, you have a sense of what it’s like to be sick, but until you’ve gone through it yourself you do not really know. It’s like falling in love or having a kid. You don’t appreciate…the little things” (Kalanithi …show more content…
As he said, “Like my own patients, I had to face my mortality and try to understand what made [the rest of] my life worth living” (Kalanithi ASDF). Thus, even though he had a better medical knowledge than his patients, he was ultimately on an equal playing field with them. Additionally, his voice is very much one that the educated population can relate to. For the most part, he does not fill his pages with scientific and medical jargon that the general population could not understand—and for the small sections that he does, it is easy to understand via the context or by looking at other resources to better understand. He uses simple language that allows the book to read with ease and allows the reader to feel as if they are with this man who is struggling with his diagnosis and as he questions about how to structure the final chapter of his
The writing style of the author is quite interesting to me. Atul Gawande’s honesty, a major aspect of his writing style, beautifully highlights the good and bad of any medical profession. For example, Gawande’s argument over the use of patients for resident training
The PBS Frontline documentary Being Mortal focuses on doctors and their patients who are dealing with chronic illness and nearing the end of their life. It investigates how some doctors are ill-equipped to talk about chronic illness and death with their patients and how this can lead to a lesser quality of life at the end of life stage for patients. In this documentary, we followed Dr. Atul Gawade on his journey to educate himself and others about the difficult emotional aspects of dying. The director, Thomas Jennings, along with Dr. Gawade, created a fantastic documentary about how it is important for doctors to talk to dying patients about their mortality. This was effectively done by offering experiences and interviews from doctors and their patients, by following the declining path of the patient, and by showing the real life emotion of the patients, families and doctors working through to the end.
In the United States and worldwide people have different culture, beliefs and attitude about death. Over the past years, death is an emotional and controversy topic that is not easy to talk about. Everyone have a different definition of what is death and when do you know that a person is really dead. In the book Death, Society, and Human Experiences by Robert J. Kastenbaum demonstrates that you are alive, even when doctors pronounce you dead.
This internal conflict is a result of the mistakes a physician makes, and the ability to move on from it is regarded as almost unreachable. For example, in the essay, “When Doctors Make Mistakes”, Gawande is standing over his patient Louise Williams, viewing her “lips blue, her throat swollen, bloody, and suddenly closed passage” (73). The imagery of the patient’s lifeless body gives a larger meaning to the doctor’s daily preoccupations. Gawande’s use of morbid language helps the reader identify that death is, unfortunately, a facet of a physician’s career. However, Gawande does not leave the reader to ponder of what emotions went through him after witnessing the loss of his patient. He writes, “Perhaps a backup suction device should always be at hand, and better light more easily available. Perhaps the institutions could have trained me better for such crises” (“When Doctors Make Mistakes” 73). The repetition of “perhaps” only epitomizes the inability to move on from making a mistake. However, this repetitive language also demonstrates the ends a doctor will meet to save a patient’s life (73). Therefore, it is not the doctor, but medicine itself that can be seen as the gateway from life to death or vice versa. Although the limitations of medicine can allow for the death of a patient to occur, a doctor will still experience emotional turmoil after losing someone he was trying to
I always looked at death as such a sad thing that is eventually going to occur to everyone. However, after reading this book, it made me realize death can actually be a beautiful thing. Death allows a person to go to a next life, one where they will be loved and others will be there for them. It was interesting to be able to read about stories that these hospice care workers witnessed themselves. I have experienced a few deaths within my life and I never coped with them very well. After reading this book, I honestly believe I will be able to look at the positive side of death and be able to deal with my emotions better. I can also help others surrounding me deal with a death that they are experiencing. This book was filled with information that I loved learning. For example, I never knew that a dying person can choose a time to die. The thought of this never occurred to me before. I always thought that when it was someone’s time to go, they had no choice. But, a dying person can “put off” passing on until they see a certain person or event that has great significance in their life. Nevertheless, there are still people who will wait to die until they’re all alone in the room. This book makes you think of real life situations and think what you would do in them. Taken as a whole, it was a very in depth book that changes the way you would naturally perceive
I enjoyed Michael’s stories and wisdom that he shared with the readers. His advice of following your dreams and happiness, accepting your fate, and the importance of learning and being curious is described in the book. His stories are entertaining and keep the reader’s attention. I think his advice can be beneficial for anyone and especially for someone starting a new journey in life. Michael is inspiring in both in how he deals with his disease and his optimism about life. I like that Michael also encourages his readers to face their fears and to follow their dreams and passions. Michael shares this valuable message throughout the book, we all face difficulties that come up in life that are not always expected, but we can play an important role in how we react to
Granted, textbooks and nursing classes deal with death, but Marks explains that you do not really understand it until it is right in front of you. Overtime it becomes something that nurse’s become accustom to. To clarify the subject of death never becomes easy, it just becomes bearable. After 31 years of experience Marks explained to me that nurses have to learn how to distance themselves, yet still be caring at the same time; a trait that does not come easily to most. In the same way treating someone with a terminal illness is just as hard. In these cases nurses must step into the role of councillors. They must learn how to comfort their patient, yet not become too attached. As well they must learn how to explain to them what is happening, which can become especially hard when dealing with
The concept between life and death cannot simply exist without one another, where the topic is widely discussed throughout “When Breath Becomes Air” by Paul Kalanithi. This memoir explores Paul’s definition of death as he passes through the distinct “stages” of his life. As Paul progresses through each stage, he views death differently as he transformed from a student to a neurosurgeon, neurosurgeon to a patient, and eventually becoming a father, where he needed to take full responsibility as an adult.
Diligence is a virtue. This is a theme Atul Gawande presents to the reader throughout Better: A Surgeon’s Notes on Performance. In each story, Gawande provides insight on medical studies he has previously embarked upon. For example, in “The Mop-up” the author tells us about a time when he went to India to observe the efforts to eradicate polio. Gawande explains how he followed a supervisor around and how vaccinations were performed. Additionally, in another chapter he debates on whether physicians should take part in death sentences. Throughout his adventures Gawande provides numerous enriching personal accounts of controversial events and what it is like to be a doctor; each with diligence playing a key part.
One thing that we often hear is that “death is just a part of life.” So often in our day and age do we hear people utter these words. However, death is far more significant and impactful than some would allege. True death is not merely a time when we cease to exist; it is an entombment, a mindset in which we are dead to this world. Throughout our lives, it is true that we can all be dead in one way or another, but it does not have to be that way. When we have our eyes opened to what death actually is, it is far easier to grasp what the true meaning of life is, and to embrace it. Often, we will come across individuals who are enveloped in death and others who are immersed in true life. The shadow of death and entombment lies upon some, encompassing
Death alone is a scary thought to most individuals. People who live their life in fear of death don’t really get the most out of life. Someone who is terminally ill would be in a similar situation. There are two ways to live life after being diagnosed terminally ill. One way would be to get the most out of what remains of the person’s life. This would be considered the positive outcome. In the story “Letter from a Sick Person” the narrator recently has been informed he is terminal. Instead of panicking or being upset he embraces it. He accepts that his death is unavoidable and it gives him a brand new meaning in his life. He states, “In journeys, the greatest grief is hidden”. This life explains while he is not exactly happy he has discovered a way to cope with his illness. He feels as if it was his time stating, “I tell you I wanted death to come like a captain and carry me off”. Even in his death he knew that it wasn’t him who would be forced to overcome his death but the people left
‘Being Mortal’ was a fascinating read about a young man who grows in the understanding of death and dying and what matters most in the end. We all have constraints and no matter how well we take care of ourselves and live our life, death comes to us all; and how we meet that end can be very different depending on how we want to spend the last moments of our journey. Medical science has its power and pushes the boundaries of life and death, but it can’t always save you, it won’t always work out the way that you hope it does. Doctors like Atul Gawande struggle to fix everyone’s problem and cure the patients who come into the hospital; but as the book progresses Atul finds that there are ways to handle patients’ lives and it doesn’t always involve
During his employment as a medical official the reality of reservation life could not be ignored. Although he must have wanted to help his people there were many difficulties of the time. They were far away from Western civilization and supply to medical equipment. The epidemics of small pox, measles, and influenza were attacking the people. He could not al...
...tentially be cured with a one surgery. He uses this story of death to share that life is short. “Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by Dogma. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most importantly, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” He uses repetition and parallelism to drive his message home.
I was very excited to take Death and Dying as a college level course. Firstly, because I have always had a huge interest in death, but it coincides with a fear surrounding it. I love the opportunity to write this paper because I can delve into my own experiences and beliefs around death and dying and perhaps really establish a clear personal perspective and how I can relate to others in a professional setting.