Gawande says medical professionals need to build a system that focuses on how to help dying patients achieve what's most important to them at the end of their lives. His books include Better and Complications. "So we've failed to meet the other needs people have, other than just prolonging life."Ītul Gawande is a staff member of Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. But he says it has not prepared people for the likelihood that physicians aren't good at preparing patients whose lives will not be prolonged by medical treatment. "Our system of medical care has successfully created a multitrillion-dollar system for dispensing lottery tickets - the lottery ticket that you could get this longer life," Gawande says. Gawande tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross that physicians are hesitant to tell patients that there's nothing else they can do, even if statistics show procedures are unlikely to work. The surgeon and New Yorker staff writer writes about the difficulties faced by medical professionals who must decide when to stop medical interventions and focus on improving the final days of life in his article " Letting Go" in the Aug. Atul Gawande began researching hospice and end-of-life care options because he says he didn't know how to broach the subject of death with his terminally ill patients. Medical professionals need to build a system that focuses on how to help patients achieve what's most important to them at the end of their lives, says Dr.
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