“I pressed her. Why? He had adjusted to where he was. He’d reassembled the pieces of a life—a friend, a routine, some… — Atul Gawande Copy Share Image
These are folks that keep people out of hospitals, out of emergency rooms, out of nursing homes. And not only that, they… — Atul Gawande Copy Share Image
“Three Plagues of nursing home existence: boredom, loneliness, and helplessness.” — Atul Gawande Copy Share Image
I talked to over two hundred patients and family members about their experiences with aging, serious illnesses, and the big unfixables. But… — Atul Gawande Copy Share Image
“Hospice deploys nurses, doctors, chaplains, and social workers to help people with a fatal illness have the fullest possible lives right now—much… — Atul Gawande Copy Share Image
“expanded to a second location in Portland—this one had 142 units and capacity for impoverished elderly people on government support—the state required… — Atul Gawande Copy Share Image
“One day, however, they had an experience that revealed just how fragile their life had become. Bella developed a cold, causing fluid… — Atul Gawande Copy Share Image
“how she’d ended up in Sanborn Place. That was when she told me about her son Wayne. Wayne was a twin born… — Atul Gawande Copy Share Image
“This time, she came back to Longwood House in a wheelchair and needed help with virtually all of her everyday activities—using the… — Atul Gawande Copy Share Image
“10. What realities are captured in the story of Lou Sanders and his daughter, Shelley, regarding home care for an aging and… — Atul Gawande Copy Share Image
Don’t let yourself be. Find something new to try, something to change. Count how often it succeeds and how often it doesn’t. Write about… — Atul Gawande Copy Share Image
“Wilson spent several days camped out in one government office after another until she had secured an exemption. Unbelievably, she and her husband cleared… — Atul Gawande Copy Share Image
What is needed, however, isn't just that people working together be nice to each other. It is discipline. Discipline is hard--harder than trustworthiness and… — Atul Gawande Copy Share Image
“8. Chapter 4 describes the birth of the assisted-living facility concept (Park Place), designed by Keren Wilson to provide her disabled mother, Jessie, with… — Atul Gawande Copy Share Image
When we lived in a society where we had large families that lived together, especially in agricultural societies like my grandfather and father grew… — Atul Gawande Copy Share Image
My biggest fear, that 27 percent of Americans under 65 have an existing health condition that, without the protections of the Affordable Care Act,… — Atul Gawande Copy Share Image
“..how we seek to spend our time may depend on how much time we perceive ourselves to have. When you are young and healthy,… — Atul Gawande Copy Share Image
“I cannot pretend he escaped unscathed. The extended period of low blood pressure damaged an optic nerve and left him essentially blind in one… — Atul Gawande Copy Share Image
The battle of being mortal is the battle to maintain the integrity of one’s life, — Atul Gawande Copy Share Image
“an average of $94,000 during the last year of life with a metastatic breast cancer. Our medical system is excellent at trying to stave… — Atul Gawande Copy Share Image
“we need practice to get good at what we do. There is one difference in medicine, though: it is people we practice upon.” — Atul Gawande Copy Share Image
People underestimate the importance of dilligence as a virtue. No doubt it has something to do with how supremely mundane it seems. It is… — Atul Gawande Copy Share Image