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Surgeon and author Sherwin Nuland passes away

Surgeon and author Sherwin Nuland passes away

THE American surgeon and author Sherwin B. Nuland, who wrote the worldwide bestseller How We Die, has passed away at the age of 83.

Dr. Nuland’s book (see below), which first appeared in the 1994, was a startlingly frank examination of the process of dying, including detailed explanations of what the human body experiences during a range of diseases.

Drawing on his experiences over more than 35 years in medicine — many of them as clinical professor of surgery at Yale-New Haven — Dr. Nuland said he had decided to write the book in a bid to demythologise death so that people facing illness might be better informed when it came to making decisions about their care. 

At the time of its publication, an intense debate was underway in the United States about the whole issue of Euthanasia. Questioning what was seen as the concept of death with dignity, Dr. Nuland claimed he had not seen much dignity in the process.

The book, which won the National Book Award for non-fiction in 1994, also took a swipe at the medical profession for, at times, encouraging patients to endure severe treatments which may offer little hope of success and result in unnecessary suffering.  Dr. Nuland himself had admitted being guilty of this on several occasions, including having encouraged a brother to undergo experimental treatment for colon cancer which had failed to save his life.

How We Die — which had sold more than half-a-million copies worldwide — continues to offer a reference point in the on-going debate on what constitutes a dignified death. 

Dr. Nuland, who had been suffering from prostate cancer, passed away at his home in Connecticut. He is survived by his wife and four children.

To view footage of Dr. Nuland talking about How We Die, click here.

To see an interview in which Dr. Nuland talks about how we live, click here.

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