Medicine has triumphed in modern times, changing the dangers of childbirth, injury and disease from unmanageable to manageable. But when it comes to the inescapable realities of ageing and death, what medicine can do is often at odds with what it should. Through eye-opening research and compelling stories from his patients and family, Gawande reveals the suffering caused by these dynamics. Doctors, uncomfortable talking about patients' fears of death, rely on false hopes and therapies that actually shorten life rather than improve it. In his bestselling books, Atul Gawande, a practising surgeon, has fearlessly revealed the struggles of his profession. Here, he analyses the ultimate limitations and failures - both in his own and other practices - as life draws to a close.
