Matters of life and death: Our health (and lack thereof) is worth talking about

Matters of life and death: Our health (and lack thereof) is worth talking about
Psychology Today; by Samantha Stein; 8/29/24
In his book Being Mortal, Dr. Atul Gawande, a practicing surgeon, discusses how having the hard conversations about end-of-life medical interventions (or not) may lead to a shorter life but a more fulfilling one. In his book Telltale Hearts, Dr. Dean-David Schillinger, a physician and public health advocate, discusses how accurate diagnosis, treatment, and true healing come from listening deeply to patients and their stories. Medical advances in the past century have been astounding. We live significantly longer and are able to survive repeated health crises that once would have killed us. Nearly everyone would agree that in many, if not most, cases that’s a positive thing. However, many would argue that our hyperfocus on prolonging life at all costs, along with our tendency to treat symptoms rather than looking for underlying causes, has caused us to lose sight of the importance of quality of life and true health.