The goal of medical training is to prolong patients' lives. But they are never instructed on how to get people ready to die. However, for many patients, especially the elderly and terminally ill, passing is a matter of when rather than if. Should the medical community reevaluate how it treats them? Additionally, how? These questions are getting more important as the world's population ages and healthcare costs rise. In his most recent book, Atul Gawande makes the case that our approach to the dying must be based on an acknowledgment of mortality. Using his surgical skills (and errors), contrasting Western and Indian views on ageing and death, and creating a moving depiction of his father's final years-a