Could you accurately define the differences between what a geriatrician does as compared with an internist; what is palliative care and what is hospice? These are key terms to know if you or someone you care about is getting on in years. There is a wonderful book published in 2014 that remained on the top-10 list of the nonfiction section of the New York Times Book Review for something like four years. It is called “Being Mortal” and was written by a heart surgeon in Boston, Atul Gawande. That book answers the questions above perfectly. I will crib from it to explain here.