In this episode, Kate speaks with surgeon, writer, and public health leader Dr. Atul Gawande about the deeply human questions that surface when medicine meets its limits. What does it mean to be a good doctor when a cure isn’t possible? What do people really mean when they say they want “quality of life”?

Together, they talk about caregiving, end-of-life decisions, and how the most honest conversations in healthcare begin—not with answers—but with better questions.

For anyone living with chronic illness, caring for someone they love, or wondering what it means to live a good life with limits, this conversation won’t offer easy fixes. But it might offer something just as rare: clarity, compassion, and the courage to ask what really matters.

Watch the full episode on YouTube: Kate C. Bowler on YouTube

Subscribe to Kate’s Substack: katebowler.substack.com

Show notes: 


The Aspen Ideas Festival


Being Mortal by Dr. Atul Gawande


The Green House Project


Ari Johnson & Muso Health


Organizations for further action: World Food Programme, UNICEF, American Red Cross

In this episode, Kate speaks with surgeon, writer, and public health leader Dr. Atul Gawande about the deeply human questions that surface when medicine meets its limits. What does it mean to be a good doctor when a cure isn&rsquo;t possible? What do people really mean when they say they want &ldquo;quality of life&rdquo;?
Together, they talk about caregiving, end-of-life decisions, and how the most honest conversations in healthcare begin&mdash;not with answers&mdash;but with better questions.
For anyone living with chronic illness, caring for someone they love, or wondering what it means to live a good life with limits, this conversation won&rsquo;t offer easy fixes. But it might offer something just as rare: clarity, compassion, and the courage to ask what really matters.
Watch the full episode on YouTube: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@KateCBowler">Kate C. Bowler on YouTube</a>
Subscribe to Kate&rsquo;s Substack: <a href="https://katebowler.substack.com/">katebowler.substack.com</a>
Show notes:&nbsp;
<ul>
<li data-list-indent="1" data-list-type="bulleted">
<a href="https://www.aspenideas.org">The Aspen Ideas Festival</a>
</li>
<li data-list-indent="1" data-list-type="bulleted">
<a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/being-mortal-medicine-and-what-matters-in-the-end-atul-gawande/586355?ean=9781250076229&amp;next=t">Being Mortal by Dr. Atul Gawande</a>
</li>
<li data-list-indent="1" data-list-type="bulleted">
<a href="https://thegreenhouseproject.org">The Green House Project</a>
</li>
<li data-list-indent="1" data-list-type="bulleted">
<a href="https://www.musohealth.org">Ari Johnson &amp; Muso Health</a>
</li>
<li data-list-indent="1" data-list-type="bulleted">
Organizations for further action: <a href="https://www.wfp.org">World Food Programme</a>, <a href="https://www.unicef.org">UNICEF</a>, <a href="https://www.redcross.org">American Red Cross</a>
</li>
</ul>

Are you living your best life now? Not always? This is a podcast for you. Duke Professor Kate Bowler is an expert in the stories we tell about success and failure, suffering and happiness. She had Stage IV cancer. Then she didn’t. And since then, all she wants to do is talk to funny and wise people about how to live with the knowledge that, well, everything happens.  Find her online at @katecbowler.

Sales and Distribution by Lemonada Media https://lemonadamedia.com/

Are you living your best life now? Not always? This is a podcast for you. Duke Professor Kate Bowler is an expert in the stories we tell about success and failure, suffering and happiness. She had Stage IV cancer. Then she didn’t. And since then, all she wants to do is talk to funny and wise people about how to live with the knowledge that, well, everything happens.  Find her online at @katecbowler.
Sales and Distribution by Lemonada Media <a href="https://lemonadamedia.com/" data-stringify-link="https://lemonadamedia.com/" data-sk="tooltip_parent">https://lemonadamedia.com/</a>

Honest conversation about life's less-shiny moments.

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