Michael Wolff shares his experience in “A Life Worth Ending”, an essay he wrote about his mother’s terminal disease and the difficulties she faced while dealing with healthcare. Wolff’s mother suffers from dementia which slowly takes away her ability to perform the tasks she used to be able to. Wolff’s mother is suffering from dementia, and he spends most of his time looking for the best treatment. He is then shocked to learn about the horrors within the healthcare industry. The insurance was not covering all of the care that she required. This placed a strain on the relatives who were paying her bills. The decisions he had to take were often difficult and made him question whether or not it was worthwhile. Michael Wolff uses his literary nonfiction style to share his views on long-term healthcare and assisted living options for the elderly and terminally-ill. He also discusses the costs.
It is important to understand how healthcare affects patients as well as their families. Wolff’s use of point of view can be seen in his use of the holocaust as an example to explain to readers what he is trying to say. “It’s a Holocaust.” This sentence not only grabs the attention of the reader, but also makes him curious as to what else could be so bad? His mother, who isn’t able to help herself much, will let you know when she doesn’t want something to happen. Wolff then digs deeper into his feelings regarding the suffering of his mother. It’s an offense. She feels violated. However, she cannot do anything about it because she’s too sick. She’s no longer the same person she was before. Now, she is just a shell. His readers will not only understand her state of helplessness but they will also gain an understanding of the realities of long-term care. “I didn’t need to learn about the realities of Long-Term Care: The costs to care for my 86 year old mother, who, over the past 18 month, hasn’t been able walk, speak or attend to her most basic needs. She also lacks a short term memory. These costs come to around $17,000 each month. Wolff says that his mother’s LTC coverage barely covers any of this. Her insurance, which was supposed benefit her, did not cover the cost of all her health care. Wolf ends by reflecting on what happened to his mother. Wolf does not intend to be in that same position. My children were in their twenties when I visited my insurance representative a few weeks back. I told them that it was their decision whether to purchase long-term-care coverage or not. The e-mail was sent, but no one replied. I assume it was the type of e mail.
Michael Wolff in his essay “A Live Worth Ending”, uses a nonfiction element perspective to present an honest and emotional account.
A terminally sick mother suffered as a result of medical negligence. Wolff’s emotions are raw, messy and unfiltered. Readers were able both to gain insights into the life of a loved one who was terminally ill and to feel their emotions.
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