Listening to Sanjay Gupta - CNN star doc and once a buzzworthy possibility for Surgeon General - on the radio the other night, I found myself gritting my teeth. His new book, "Cheating Death," explores medical cases in which the process of death is slowed, then reversed. Excerpt here:
http://www.abcnews.go.com/GMA/Books/read-excerpt-cheating-death-sanjay-gupta/Story?id=8792520&page=4
I'm equally fascinated by the mechanics of death and the tinkering that can take place to subvert it, but something about his framing irked me. The notion of evading the inevtiable being valued above all else - isn't this what's driving our usage and cost and medical-choice-in-the-name-of-freedom?
Won't this eventually swell the cost of emergency care, if more and more Americans demand chilled saline and forced hypothermia to save their loved ones? But putting it in the context of my own parents - would this be something I appreciate about living in America, that I in fact can demand unorthodox treatment?
I don't like the action-hero title, your overly enthusiastic delivery, or your grasping for Jules Verne; but, Dr. Gupta, I kinda see your point.
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