characters - being mortal

Atul Gawande

• believed in less time listing treatments and more time discovering what matters to patients

• surgeon

Alice Hobson

• Kathleen Hobson’s grandmother

• Married to Rich

• lived independently

• fell a lot, got scammed, car accident

• Longwood House

  • didnt feel like home

• broke her hip and died

Sitaram Gawande

• Atul’s grandfather

• rural India

• large extended family

Gopikabai Gawande

• grandmother

• died before 30

Rich Hobson

• Kathleen’s grandfather

• died from heart attack

Felix Silverstone

• specialized in geriatrics

• took care of Bella in living facility

Bella Silverstone

• wife of Felix

• became blind and deaf

Bhagat

• poorhouse in New Dehli

Lou Sanders

• wife died of cancer

• heart attack and survived

• many memory problems

  • Parkinson’s disease

• moved in with Tom and Shelly

  • diagnosed with postural hypotension

  • night terrors about war

  • assisted living

    • Florence Center for Living

Shelly

• Lou Sanders’s daughter

• took Lou in

• overwhelmed

Laura Carstensen

• Stanford professor

  • those that are terminal prioritize family/relationships more

• near-death experience that inspired

Bill Thomas

• young physician

• Chase Memorial Nursing Home

• 3 plagues: boredom, loneliness, helplessness

• 2 dogs, 4 cats, 100 birds

• Eden Alternative

  • decreases in drug use and deaths

Sara Monopoli

• pregnant when diagnosed with lung cancer

• mentioned dying a lot

• died in palliative care

Sara Creed

• Hospice nurse

• cared for Lee Cox

• focused on comfort and quality of life

Lee Cox

• Sarah Creed’s patient

• lived with niece

• felt that she was in the way

Dave Galloway

• Sarah Creed’s patient

Nelene Fox

• metastatic cancer

• insurance denied experimental treatment

  • died after getting the funds

• husband sued, but research showed the treatment wouldnt have worked 

Jack Block

• Susan Block’s father

• life worth living if ice cream and football was present

• mass required removal, paralysis risk

• entered hospice and died a few years later

Jewel Douglass

• ovarian cancer

• wanted to make it to a wedding, couldnt keep food down

• underwent surgery, only performed drainage

• died peacefully

Peg Bachelder

• daughter’s piano teacher

• had cancer, continued teaching

• entered hospice and continued teaching

• held concerts in living room

Margaret Cohn

• retired biologist

• founded Athens Village

  • neighborhood support - allowed elderly to remain in homes

• helped Gawande’s father consider alternatives for aggressive treatment

Susan Block

Jack Block’s daughter

Palliative care specialist

Keren Brown Wilson

founded assisted living (Park Place)