Dominican University Midterm: When Breath Becomes Air. Tanya De La Riva THEO 368 02 Professor Hart Winter March 1, 2024 "When Breath Becomes Air" is more than just a memoir; it's a profound reflection on life's most pressing questions as seen through the eyes of Paul Kalanithi, a neurosurgeon faced with terminal lung cancer at the pinnacle of his career. This book bridges the chasm between doctor and patient, life and death, and science, and spirituality, offering readers an unparalleled perspective on the essence of medicine and the human condition. Kalanithi's narrative challenges us to ponder the role of empathy, the importance of communication, and the ethical foundations that underpin the healthcare profession. Through his journey, we gain insights into the delicate balance …show more content…
Kalanithi engages with literature, philosophy, and his own experiences to question the nature of a meaningful life, exploring how these existential dilemmas intersect with the practice of medicine. He challenges readers and healthcare professionals alike to consider how the pursuit of knowledge about the human body intersects with the more elusive quest for meaning. Kalanithi's narrative suggests that the essence of medicine lies not only in its capacity to extend life but also in its ability to enrich the quality of the time patients have left, urging a more holistic view of healthcare that encompasses the body, mind, and spirit. Patient-Doctor Relationship: A Partnership Central to "When Breath Becomes Air" is the evolution of the patient-doctor relationship, particularly as Kalanithi experiences it from both sides of the equation. His unique perspective sheds light on the importance of empathy, trust, and mutual respect in this relationship. Kalanithi discusses the transformative power of truly listening to patients, of understanding
As a nursing student, I have had some exposure to death during patient care. My first encounter with direct death was witnessing a patient after attempted resuscitation efforts die in the emergency department. As I observed others reactions, I noticed I was the only one who seemed fazed by the preceding events and the end result, although I didn’t show it outwardly. During my Aging and End of life clinical rotation, I have been exposed to a near death experience with a family and I had the rewarding experience of forming a relationship with the patient’s wife during the short hour I was in their home. From reading the accounts in this book, it confirmed to me the importance of catering to the needs of the family and the dying as an important issue to address as they are critical to overall care.
The Dying of the Light is an article by Dr. Craig Bowron that captures the controversy surrounding the role of medication in prolonging life. The author describes that many medical advancements have become a burden to particularly elderly patients who in most instances are ready to embrace the reality of death. Dr. Bowron believes that dying in these modern times has become a tiring and unnatural process. “Everyone wants to grow old and die in his or her sleep, but the truth is most of us will die in pieces,” Bowron notes (Bowron). The article does not advocate for euthanasia or the management of health care costs due to terminal or chronic illness. Bowron faults humanity for not embracing life and death with dignity as it was in the past. He blames the emergence of modern medical advances and democracy as the sole reason why everyone is pursuing immortality or prolonging of life rather than embracing the natural course of things. The article is very articulate and comes out rather persuasive to its target audience that happens to be health-conscious. Craig Bowron uses effective rhetorical strategies such as logos, ethos, and pathos to pass on his message. The article’s credibility is impeccable due to the author’s authority in health matters as he is a hospital-based internist. A better placed individual to dissect this issue by analyzing his experiences in the healthcare profession. The article incorporates a passionate delivery that appeals to the readers’ hopes, opinions, and imagination.
The PBS Frontline documentary Being Mortal focuses on doctors and their patients who are dealing with chronic illness and nearing the end of their life. It investigates how some doctors are ill-equipped to talk about chronic illness and death with their patients and how this can lead to a lesser quality of life at the end of life stage for patients. In this documentary, we followed Dr. Atul Gawade on his journey to educate himself and others about the difficult emotional aspects of dying. The director, Thomas Jennings, along with Dr. Gawade, created a fantastic documentary about how it is important for doctors to talk to dying patients about their mortality. This was effectively done by offering experiences and interviews from doctors and their patients, by following the declining path of the patient, and by showing the real life emotion of the patients, families and doctors working through to the end.
This internal conflict is a result of the mistakes a physician makes, and the ability to move on from it is regarded as almost unreachable. For example, in the essay, “When Doctors Make Mistakes”, Gawande is standing over his patient Louise Williams, viewing her “lips blue, her throat swollen, bloody, and suddenly closed passage” (73). The imagery of the patient’s lifeless body gives a larger meaning to the doctor’s daily preoccupations. Gawande’s use of morbid language helps the reader identify that death is, unfortunately, a facet of a physician’s career. However, Gawande does not leave the reader to ponder of what emotions went through him after witnessing the loss of his patient. He writes, “Perhaps a backup suction device should always be at hand, and better light more easily available. Perhaps the institutions could have trained me better for such crises” (“When Doctors Make Mistakes” 73). The repetition of “perhaps” only epitomizes the inability to move on from making a mistake. However, this repetitive language also demonstrates the ends a doctor will meet to save a patient’s life (73). Therefore, it is not the doctor, but medicine itself that can be seen as the gateway from life to death or vice versa. Although the limitations of medicine can allow for the death of a patient to occur, a doctor will still experience emotional turmoil after losing someone he was trying to
“The Doctor” presented interesting and emotional concepts accurately representing the philosophies and behaviors of many medical professionals. Perhaps its viewing would be beneficial by members of our medical community, and provide a framework to the personalization of patient care.
However, it has been reported that telling a patient the truth may significantly improve their wellbeing as they approach the end of their life. One study revealed that truth telling may reduce terminal cancer patients’ uncertainty and anxiety, as indicated by lower scores on a Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale, and higher scores on a Spiritual Well-being scale (Kao et al. 2013). Furthermore, while there is no explicit principle regarding lying within the Hippocratic Oath, honesty is a virtue that is closely associated with physicians and health care providers. In fact, honesty can be closely related to respect for persons, which implies that it is necessary for the maintenance of the physician-patient relationship. Honesty about all relevant aspects of a patient’s diagnosis, prognosis and treatment are necessary to build trust, and to obtain informed consent.
With this, Kalanithi is able to bond with his patients and sooth them when they are overwhelmed, confused, and terrified. Kalanithi, for example, was able to create an environment for the thirty-five-year-old woman where “she was a person, instead of a problem to be solved” (Kalanithi 90). Creating this safe environment for them allowed Kalanithi to support, empathize, but mainly guide his patients, such as the thirty-five-year-old woman, “calmly” through different options as he attempts to “guide you, as best as I can” (Kalanithi 88). Kalanithi’s interactions with his patients create an environment where he is able to approach his patients as equals to help them further. Furthermore, Kalanithi seeing his patients as people rather than inconveniences really reminded me of the support my family received from all sorts of people, but mainly the doctors, during my mom’s endeavors.
I was a child when my aunt got sick, and my fascination about the field of medicine began. She had brain cancer. While I watched the disease progress I was flooded, not only with sadness and grief, but with questions. With two psychologists for parents I had a lot of support and understanding of my feelings, but I was left curious about the medical aspect of the disease and why there was no cure. The notion that the brain could change someone’s entire personality and physical function was amazing to me. Spending a lot of time in hospitals, I observed so much about the impact of a cancer diagnosis on patients and their families, and about what happens to people through the disease process. I noticed the enormous influence that the medical professional’s
As physicians, we are foundations for our patients. We become sources of strength and emotional security for them, in trying times. We do more than fix others back to health (spotting signs of illness, giving diagnoses, drugs or treatment). We must understand the concerns of those we help and be there for our patients—through pain and sorrow. ================
Kenneth Schwartz was a health-care lawyer who had only been exposed to the business side of healthcare. It was not until he was diagnosed with lung cancer that he would experience another role in healthcare, being a patient. The battle he was up against would not only be physical but also emotional. In the end, Schwartz lost his battle against lung cancer just under a year of being diagnosed. The one thing he repeatedly emphasized was the empathetic acts of kindness the caregivers bestowed upon him. Cancer to him was not just about physically beating the cancer, it was for his well-being as a whole ,and his desire to stay intact through out the process. He may have lost his battle with cancer but the care he was provided kept him hopeful and optimistic until his untimely passing. Compassionate care should be a staple for all healthcare providers. It can improve outcomes of health, increase the satisfaction of the patient, and aid in better adherence to recommendations from the caregivers. Patients should never feel they are being rushed, that they are not important, or that they are not receiving the best provision of care possible.
‘Being Mortal’ was a fascinating read about a young man who grows in the understanding of death and dying and what matters most in the end. We all have constraints and no matter how well we take care of ourselves and live our life, death comes to us all; and how we meet that end can be very different depending on how we want to spend the last moments of our journey. Medical science has its power and pushes the boundaries of life and death, but it can’t always save you, it won’t always work out the way that you hope it does. Doctors like Atul Gawande struggle to fix everyone’s problem and cure the patients who come into the hospital; but as the book progresses Atul finds that there are ways to handle patients’ lives and it doesn’t always involve
My earliest experiences of observing nursing in action occurred during my last two years of high school. My father was diagnosed with cancer during the spring of my junior year and died right before my senior year. During that short time I watched as the nurses cared for him and I could see compassion and empathy in the way they looked at him. It never occurred to me until after I had raised my children that I wanted to be able to help people in the same way those nurses helped my dad. But now when I tell people that I want to be an oncology nurse, people often respond by saying that they would never choose that type of nursing. They say that they could not stand to watch their patients die so frequently. Their reactions, along with this course in death and dying, have made me question how I might be able to bear the challenges of nursing in an area where death of my patients may be common. I believe that oncology will be a positive specialty to work in because of the consistent advances in prevention, early detection, and treatment of cancer. Furthermore, I believe that William Worden’s four tasks of mourning as presented in our text book is a good framework for the oncology nurse to use in order to cope with the repeated losses inherent in this type of nursing (Leming and Dickinson, 2011).
Upon returning to work, Jack changes his outlook towards his job, his coworkers, patients and his interns. He teaches his students exactly what it will feel like to be the patient. He was able to take his experience and teach others the importance of communicating empathy in the healthcare field. He is now able to look past his patients’ illnesses and treat them as patients with feelings and respect. The lesson he takes with him is was how important life is when we use the right communication.
A patient is a human being. Illness disturbs biological, social, psychological elements that make the patient human. The focus of this paper is to make the argument that the biopsychosocial model provides the most effective foundation for treating patient as a complete person, physically and psychologically, in the management of a disease with focus on five aspects: patient’s experience of illness, physician-patient communication, proficiency of end of life care, medical ethics and spiritual growth. This position will be corroborated by the film “Wit (Nichols & Brokaw, 2002)” through the end-stage palliative character Vivian Bearing's revelation that the practice of medicine is a complex combination of human empathy with the severities of
Her lecture was given to medical students, nurses, social workers, and chaplains about the idea of holistic hospice care. She included photos of terminally ill cancer patients and their families, showing the dramatic differences before and