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Sarah Montague

Atul Gawande

HARDtalk: Atul Gawande

Surgeon and writer Atul Gawande

04/11/2014 GMT

BBC News - HARDtalk, Atul Gawande

Sarah Montague speaks to Atul Gawande, who wants to change the way doctors discuss death.

When a dying person asks their doctor if they can do anything to help, is it easier for the doctor to provide false hope than have a difficult conversation about their last days?

When a dying person asks their doctor if he or she can do anything to help, is it easier for the doctor to provide a false hope than have a difficult conversation about how best to manage their last days? Hardtalk speaks to Atul Gawande, who wants to change the way doctors think - and talk - about death. It's a subject he'll be covering in the BBC's annual Reith lectures this year. He says doctors are good at addressing specific individual problems or diseases, but argues that the ultimate goal is not a good death but a good life - all the way to the very end.

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