Richard Ho
It’s safe to assume to that throughout
Gawande’s life, he has been working hard, excelling in his classes during his
student career, and chasing his dreams of becoming a doctor. A huge portion of
his life was built upon the basis that “knowledge is power”, having an
extensive knowledge in medicine as a doctor saves lives. But suddenly, his
entire preconception about medicine was broken when his dad refused treatment
to extend his life. It came to him as a shock, when he’s unable of “fixing
what’s broken”.
In his book, “Being
Mortal”, Gawande mentioned that although doctors are equipped with a
comprehensive knowledge on medicine, they are unprepared when it comes to
dealing with the death of patients. They lack the wisdom of dealing with family
members.
It wasn’t until the death of his father when Gawande
realized that wisdom should be incorporated in to daily medical treatment. The
combination of wisdom and knowledge would bring the medical industry towards a
greater and higher stage of not only prolong individuals’ lives, but also help
them find meanings to their life. A great example of how one incorporates
wisdom into medical knowledge was when Thomas was implementing a change at a
nursing home in from pages 116-120.
Not only does this change require courage to challenge a
nursing home culture/tradition that has been passed down from generations
before, it also requires wisdom to know the medical merit it has for patients.
He knows from knowledge that these patients need motivation to keep living, and
he know about the three plagues that exist in nursing homes. Through experience
he came up with a bohemian idea of bringing animals into the nursing home. By
doing this, Thomas transformed a lifeless home, into a small zoo where all of
the patients can receive medical treatment and meaning of life.
No comments:
Post a Comment