When Does Life Really End? Dr. Sunita Puri On The Problem With CPR And the Denial Of Death

Jul 26, 2023

Dr. Sunita Puri, palliative care physician and author, discusses the impact of medical advancements on end-of-life care. She explores the complexities and misconceptions around CPR and the need for better communication about prognosis. Ageism, socioeconomic class, and racial biases in medical decisions are highlighted. The lack of conversation training in medical education and the shortage of palliative care professionals are also discussed.

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Introduction

00:00 • 5min

The Importance of Conversations about Death and Dying

05:18 • 26min

Misconceptions and Realities of CPR

30:53 • 13min

The Importance of Understanding Dying and Having a Plan

44:01 • 31min

The Lack of Conversation Training in Medical Education

01:14:38 • 3min

The Shortage and Inequalities in Palliative Care

01:18:04 • 2min

Facing a Stage Four Cancer Diagnosis

01:20:07 • 4min

Thoughts on End-of-Life Decisions and Podcast Updates

01:24:30 • 4min

In the latest installment of her unofficial series about death and dying, Meghan talks with writer and palliative care physician Dr. Sunita Puri. Sunita is the author of That Good Night, Life and Medicine in the Eleventh Hour and has written about end-of-life issues in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Slate, and elsewhere. In this conversation, Sunita discusses the ways that medical advancements can cloud the vision of doctors and patients alike when it comes to being realistic –and even humane –about how we die. She describes how terminally ill patients can get treated differently–and often receive different information–depending on a variety of factors, including their age. Sunita also discusses her forthcoming New Yorker article about the complexities and misconceptions around CPR, a practice that turns out to be not nearly as effective as many people think. CPR’s origins also contain some fascinating trivia. For instance, did you know that the expression “blowing smoke up your ass” is said to come from an 18th-century life-saving procedure involving bellows and tobacco smoke?

For paying Substack subscribers, Sunita stays overtime to share personal thoughts about the struggle to overcome a hyper-critical inner voice, whether doctors’ inner voices are extra critical, and why it’s so hard to get into medical school even though there seems to be a shortage of doctors. To hear that portion, visit meghandaum.substack.com and join the listener community.

Guest Bio:

Dr. Sunita Puri is currently the Program Director of the Hospice and Palliative Medicine fellowship at the University of Massachusetts, where she is also an Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine. She completed medical school and residency training in internal medicine at the University of California San Francisco followed by a fellowship in Hospice and Palliative Medicine at Stanford. She is the author of That Good Night: Life and Medicine in the Eleventh Hour, a critically acclaimed literary memoir examining her journey to the practice of palliative medicine, and her quest to help patients and families redefine what it means to live and die well in the face of serious illness.