Being mortal is about the struggle to cope with the constraints of our biology, with the limits set by genes and cells and flesh and bone. Medical science has given us remarkable power to push against these limits, and the potential value of this power was a central reason I became a doctor. But again and again, I have seen the damage we in medicine do when we fail to acknowledge that such power is finite and always will be.
Coincidentally, Being Mortal is also about this very subject. This quote, which actually does show up until it becomes the opening paragraph of the Epilogue, is the book in a nutshell. If one were tasked with writing a concise summary of what this book is about, one could do far worse than plucking this quote, throwing some punctuation around it, and brushing their hands. The overarching theme covered here is really about what being immortal means. It is not just living forever, it is dealing with the problems of living…forever.
This is what it means to have autonomy—you may not control life's circumstances, but getting to be the author of your life means getting to control what you do with them.
It’s a nice sentiment being expressed. Philosophical yet utilitarian; contemplative but also common sense. Taken out of context, this is an observation by the author that really gets to the center of the issue of growing older and facing change. There is, unfortunately, one problem: the context. The specific reference being made here deals with the author’s own father and how he had just retired after a successful career as a surgeon and how retained autonomy over his own life by exerting control through the mechanism of shifting all his energy and focus from being a doctor to carrying out the responsibilities that came with being elected governor of the southern district of the Ohio Rotary Club. Yes, it is truly useful advice for those rich enough and influential enough to exert control over a complete sea change in circumstances.
We’re always trotting out some story of a ninety-seven-year-old who runs marathons, as if such cases were not miracles of biological luck but reasonable expectations for all. Then, when our bodies fail to live up to this fantasy, we feel as if we somehow have something to apologize for.
Somewhat ironically in light of the previous quote, the author here does manage to recognize the significant chasm that exists between individuals in a society. Foregoing the universal application of expectation that informs his fortune-cookie advice, this quote really does hit home. There is a tendency in reporting stories about aging to do one of two things: either lump everybody together in a miserable or put the spotlight on the exceptional. Both are bad decisions because both mislead. The author suggests immediately that this even impacts the medical community by admitting that many doctors often “regard the patient on the downhill as uninteresting unless he or she has a discrete problem we can fix.” Of course, this particular example is not limited to health care issues. The exceptional is often extricated for special treatment with the ultimate consequence being not just attention, but often funds and research follow that would be directed to issues related to unexceptional.
