Living Dying: A New Perspective On The Phenomena Of Life, Disease And Death

The fear of death and dying, write Dr. Manu Kothari and Dr. Lopa Mehta, constitutes today the gravest disease of our time. The dread of dying, particularly from illness, is an attitude promoted over the centuries by medical men, pill companies and medical equipment suppliers. Every time a group of medical experts has a discussion on stroke, heart attack or cancer on the TV, thousands of listeners are overnight converted from normal human beings into anxious patients. In their stunning new book, Living, Dying the celebrated authors of The Nature of Cancer and The Other Face of Cancer delve into the biological and medical data on death – and come up with a readable, amply reassuring, personally satisfying account of disease, dying and death that is bound to change the life of anyone who reads it. Their primary intention is to free disease-dying-n-death of their assumed obscenity, as also, to restore to living-n-life their pristine dignity. Their logical elaboration of euvivasia, euthanasia, tachythanasia, dysthanasia, and, immortality will have universal appeal. Living, Dying deals basically with the function of what the authors call “intrinsic diseases” - like stroke, diabetes, cancer - diseases that human beings develop not through any fault of their own but simply because they are human beings, members of the human species. Such diseases are shared more democratically than the riches of the Earth because they are part of the pre-programmed ageing of every individual about which medical science can do nothing to alter it in any way. People given good prognosis by doctors, die, while those with poor prognosis survive. The pitied often survive the pitier. Healthy individuals collapse suddenly while those with a host of pathologies and malignancies often carry on. A treated cancer or coronary fails to guarantee survival. Medical science, say the authors, has not added even one year to the lifespan of man. Needless prescription is preceded by needless diagnosing. More often than not, therapy besides being expensive, is useless, unnecessary and helps to destabilize the patient. Except for the patient, everyone else benefits from the medical illusion that with the right amount of money and equipment, any disease can be licked. Like most seminal books, this one asks questions of western medical science that are so radical they will disrobe even the well sedimented minds. Certainly, Living, Dying will bring the medical establishment further into disrepute, which is a necessary job any way. But more than that, it will teach thousands not just to avoid unnecessary entanglement with medical men and machines, but to live life and meet death with abundant cheer. Just as most people did before the advent of modem medicine.