Final Exam by Pauline W. Chen

Subtitle: A Surgeon's Reflection on Mortality:  We all know that doctors go through a lot of training and spend many years learning and practicing.  What I find totally amazing is the lack of training in dealing with death.  Chen sheds light on how she was taught and how you keep death out of it.  You are to fix the patient, death is really not an option.  There are many layers when it comes to dealing with the end that play into how doctors deal with it.  If patients have hope the doctor does not want to dampen that and keeps them going.  The same goes with the family.  The one that disturbs me most is money driven, not only in the fact that the longer the patient is alive the longer they make money, but the malpractice of it all.  If there is one thing that is known in our life is that we are going to die.  Having dealt with death recently and knowing that it can be done in a loving and peaceful way, why would people want it any other way.  This was an enlightening book, that for me, really let me know that I need to be in charge and make sure that everyone knows what I want because the doctors are going to be looking at the bottom line, not always what is best for you.