Helping Hands

October 3, 2014

(The Economist) – In this eloquent, moving book Atul Gawande, a general surgeon and author of other thoughtful works on the doctor’s trade, explains how and why modern medicine has turned the end of life into something so horrible. “Over and over, we in medicine inflict deep gouges at the end of people’s lives and then stand oblivious to the harm done,” he says. The book’s focus is America, which spends vast sums on dubious end-of-life treatments. But other rich countries (and increasingly those that are not rich) are experiencing many of the same trends.