That Good Night

Life and Medicine in the Eleventh Hour

“A profound exploration of what it means for all of us to live—and to die—with dignity and purpose.” —People

“Visceral and lyrical.” —The Atlantic

As the American born daughter of immigrants, Dr. Sunita Puri knew from a young age that the gulf between her parents' experiences and her own was impossible to bridge, save for two elements: medicine and spirituality. Between days spent waiting for her mother, an anesthesiologist, to exit the OR, and evenings spent in conversation with her parents about their faith, Puri witnessed the tension between medicine's impulse to preserve life at all costs and a spiritual embrace of life's temporality. And it was that tension that eventually drew Puri, a passionate but unsatisfied medical student, to palliative medicine--a new specialty attempting to translate the border between medical intervention and quality-of-life care.

Interweaving evocative stories of Puri's family and the patients she cares for, That Good Night is a stunning meditation on impermanence and the role of medicine in helping us to live and die well, arming readers with information that will transform how we communicate with our doctors about what matters most to us.

I liked and wanted more

This was a wonderful collection of stories of the lives and deaths of some of her patients, and tells the timeline of her experience transitioning into paliative care. It is all well done, even to the aound and cadence of the authors voice. I would have preferred to have more didactic teaching about the HOW to have conversations with dying patients and their families. The WHYs were clear throughout the book. In the last chapter, she recalls her grand round lecture and mentions "pitfalls to avoid" when having said conversations, but does not identify them. That is what I wished the book extolled more- the nuts and bolts of how, what strategies to undertake and which to avoid, when talking with patients. The book is a solid A, but I believe more technical descriptions of the HOW would have made it an A+.

LOVED IT ! !

Great job. I could understand from both sides. Thank you for writing this book, as it is so needed still.

Exquisite and Powerful

At times difficult to listen to, and at other times hard to put down. Death is something we all will face.... I only hope I can remember the wisdom imparted in this book, with the compassion and honesty of Dr. Sunita Puri. I recommend this book to everyone who may someday experience the helplessness of accompanying a loved one on their last journey. Beautifully written and filled with courage and grace.

Touching in many ways

Enjoyed the writers own story of growing up as well as her story of growing in her chosen medical field.

Good read

Great book for health care workers and those taking care of loved ones at end of life.