Let’s talk about dying
Every time I visit my great grandmother, Tata, Atul Gawande’s Being Mortal floods my thoughts. Tata is 101 and developed severe dementia within the past two years. In 2019, she fell and fractured her hip. In the hospital, she recovered poorly. The physicians on her team offered hospice. My grandfather (her only son), declined fervently. Instead, he insisted on moving her back home to my aunt’s house, where my great …