Written by Mackenzie Manley, Content Specialist, Downtown Main Library
Bestselling author, acclaimed surgeon, and public health leader Atul Gawande, M.D., spoke candidly about mortality, quality of living, and dying with dignity to a sold-out crowd at the Aronoff Center on Tuesday, Oct. 27.
Presented by the Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library and The Library Foundation, the talk was part of the annual Mary S. Stern Lecture series. Dr. Gawande, who was raised in Athens, Ohio, discussed how medicine, families, and communities can better support quality of life for our loved ones in our most vulnerable moments.
"The goal is not giving up," said Gawande, "It's giving them the best day possible, despite the circumstances."
Dr. Gawande has written extensively on medicine and science for The New Yorker, along with authoring global bestseller Being Mortal, for which he interviewed over 200 families navigating end-of-life care. His other titles include Better, The Checklist Manifesto, and Complications.
"I learned about a lot of things in medical school," said Dr. Gawande. "Mortality was not one of them."
Knowing how to navigate those difficult conversations with competence came later for Dr. Gawande. He told the crowd that those facing end of life decisions should consider two important questions: :
- "What are your priorities, aside from living longer?"
- "Where do you draw the line in your treatment?"
"The way we learn those priorities is that we ask, and we ask less than a third of the time," noted Dr. Gawande.
During the question-and-answer portion of the lecture, Dr. Gawande was asked if he was surprised by the success of Being Mortal. The book was released in late 2014, and he said he questioned who would want the "dying" book for Christmas.
It turns out, quite a few readers did: Being Mortal outsold all three of his previous books within three months.
Reflecting on 'Being Mortal'
We asked some of those who attended this year's Mary S. Stern Lecture to share their thoughts about Dr. Gawande's speech.
Dr. Manish Srivastava, Medical Director at Hospice of Cincinnati, thought Dr. Gawande's point about investing in palliative care physicians was particularly interesting.
"We're all getting old," said Dr. Srivastava. "This is something nobody talks about, but we know at one point or another that we need to have conversations like this. [This lecture] is a non-threatening way to have this conversation."
Dr. Gawande's lecture touched on several of his real-life experiences with the subject, but one person's story was a throughline. His daughter's piano teacher, Peg Bachelder, was diagnosed with terminal cancer and chose to live the rest of life with at-home hospice care. This allowed her to live out her wish: continue teaching and host two final recitals before dying.
Dr. Nicole Damari was moved by Dr. Gawande’s story, and how it served to spotlight palliative care.
"I really love Dr. Gawande's storytelling," said Dr. Damari. "Framing it around a very personal story made the whole thing really resonate."
Lisa Steelman, a hospice nurse, said she loved the book Being Mortal, and felt the same about Dr. Gawande's talk.
"It's really valuable to figure out what's really important in life and what matters," said Steelman.
Back in August, we brought you the story of a CHPL Library staff member whose life was impacted by Dr. Gawande's book. Watch and read that story on our blog.
The Mary S. Stern Lecture Series is made possible through an endowment to The Library Foundation.
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