UPDATE: March 10, 2020: Governor Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan signed an Executive Order permitting the use of electronic signatures and electronic visitations during COVID-19 "Stay at Home" Orders. Read more here. https://tinyurl.com/urypra6
UPDATE: May 13, 2021: The Pfizer vaccine has just been approved for children ages 12 to 15. Contact your local health department for appointments or access local news outlets. See Munson Health Care announcement here. https://tinyurl.com/92rb77r4
Elder lawyers and Family Law lawyers in Michigan and elsewhere been discussing the issue raised so often now during Covid-19. Who gets the ventilator, whose life is worth saving?
As I read some of the articles from the New York Times submitted by readers in response to the Times' query for letters describing how this health crisis is affecting readers, I came upon one written by a woman who is in Florida watching over the care of her 90+-year-old mother. It was very, very moving.
And those letters made me think of a book that I believe is so unique, so inspirational, so wonderful for folks confronting end-of-life issues and dying with dignity. That book is When Breath Becomes Air, written by Paul Kalanithi. The Foreward was written by Abraham Verghese, Kalanithi's supervising faculty member at Standford. Verghese is senior associate chair and professor for the Theory and Practice of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine. He sees patients, teaches students, and he also writes. As a writer, it would have been natural for him to appreciate Kalanithi's eloquence and style. I note on the Amazon website that I have purchased six copies of this book. [Disclosure: I do not receive any commission from Amazon or any other entity for recommending this book.] I don't see a copy of the book here, so I am assuming that I have given away my last copy. Today, I have purchased copy number seven.
This book comes in three (at least) versions: Hardcover, paperback, and digital. I am a paper snob. The heavy ivory paper with a deckled edge is very beautiful, thus I love the look and feel of the book in my hands. Published in January 2016, this book quickly became a #1 New York Times Bestseller and a Pulitzer Prize Finalist.
Paul Kalanithi was a unique young man with a diverse and fascinating educational background when he became an idealistic young neurosurgeon-in-training at Stanford Medical Center under the supervision of Dr. Abraham Verghese. Approaching his last year of residency, he learned that he had stage-4 lung cancer. In his memoir, he documents his thoughts on the question "What makes a life worth living?" And--oh yes--as usual, I've read it at least twice--perhaps three times. Consider giving a copy to someone you know who is facing these same issues or as a thank you gift to your primary physician. This book is something akin to meditation.
SHARING THIS BOOK: I am ordering a copy of this book from Amazon as a gift for an intern about to graduate and move to a family practice in Wisconsin (from Northwestern Medical School in Illinois). Amazon tells me that I have previously ordered six copies of this book. The reader evaluations on Amazon are wonderful, as are the Reviews by the best reviewers in the country. I am also ordering a copy of Abraham Verghese's book "Cutting for Stone" for the same young man. [You might consider an audio version of Cutting for Stone, which is 690 pages long in print--heavy to read!]
Typical of me: I have read each of these books twice. The first time I read a book, I typically "inhale" it. (I mean I read it cover to cover in one sitting--somewhat difficult to do with a long book). The second time I read a book, I read it more slowly, and the beauty of that second reading is another mark on my soul.
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