It is very instructive to listen to Atul Gawande's series of Reith Lectures from a few years ago here. in "the problem of hubris" (http://www.bbc.co.uk/program

It is very instructive to listen to Atul Gawande's series of Reith Lectures from a few years ago here. in "the problem of hubris" (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04tjdlj#play http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04tjdlj#play , transcript http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/radio4/open-book/2014_reith_lecture3_edinburgh.pdf http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/radio4/open-book/2014_reith_lectu... ), he makes the very fair point that death is, ultimately, not something we can "fix". We’ve had I think an about 50 year experiment with medicalising mortality, with casting it as just another problem for us to treat like any other, and I think that experiment is failing. But we have an alternative emerging. It’s one where we learn and elicit what matters most to people in their lives besides just surviving, and then we use our capabilities not to sacrifice it but to protect, to protect it – to protect those priorities that people have. And I think that is our opportunity.