Sue Asher, a friend and the Executive Director of the Pierce County Medical Society, forwarded me this article in The New Yorker.  It was a difficult read for me.  My wife was diagnosed with stage 3C ovarian cancer  16 months ago, and her/our future is uncertain.  But as I have come to understand all of the future is uncertain. Still, uncertainty is always difficult, and fears about death are just that: frightening.  As a medical community we often fail to meet our patient’s needs in their final months and days.  This article by Atul Gawande, a general surgeon, is both poignant and beautiful.  It explains how Hospice care can and should function better in a very understandable and compassionate way. I highly recommend this as reading for all physicians.  Actually as Gawande states, “Death is the enemy. But the enemy has superior forces. Eventually, it wins. And, in a war that you cannot win, you don’t want a general who fights to the point of total annihilation. You don’t want Custer. You want Robert E. Lee, someone who knew how to fight for territory when he could and how to surrender when he couldn’t, someone who understood that the damage is greatest if all you do is fight to the bitter end.”  Maybe it should be required reading for all of us. 

Click the title below to read this beautiful article.