The Greatest Irony of All
Medicine and the health care system are loaded with irony and contradiction. But one particular though expressed by the author in the book definitely qualifies as the greatest irony of all: “The lesson seems almost Zen: you live longer only when you stop trying to live longer.”
Feel Good Irony
Ever see one of those “feel-good stories” that usually airs near the end of a newscast about some really elderly person accomplishing some really absurd feat? The clear message of these stories is usually to imply that one is never too old to do anything, but there is an ironic aftertaste:
“We’re always trotting out some story of a ninety-seven-year-old who runs marathons, as if such cases were not miracles of biological luck but reasonable expectations for all. Then, when our bodies fail to live up to this fantasy, we feel as if we somehow have something to apologize for.”
The Central Irony
The central irony of medicine is really quite the tragic one when allowed to go to its extremity. This ironic aspect of medical treatment is, alas, unavoidable. In fact, it is the foundation upon which a sizable chunk of entire system depends:
“If your problem is fixable, we know just what to do. But if it’s not? The fact that we have had no adequate answers to this question is troubling and has caused callousness, inhumanity, and extraordinary suffering.”
The Final Irony
The entire health care industry is engaged in a battle that every knows will ultimately be lost. Most of us know this, too, of course, but since we don’t face that Little Big Horn every single day like those working in health care, it is far easier for the masses to simply ignore the final irony of life:
“The simple view is that medicine exists to fight death and disease, and that is, of course, its most basic task. Death is the enemy. But the enemy has superior forces. Eventually, it wins.”
The Existential Irony
Although, actually, one might well label this the nihilistic irony. It is the dark side of the medical community treating old age, that is for sure. Basically, all technological innovation in medicine has brought us to the exactly the same place we have been for thousands of years:
“One has to decide whether one’s fears or one’s hopes are what most.”
