In this affecting autobiographical account, New York Times correspondent Malcolm ( Unknown America ) focuses on his volatile relationship with his mother through the lens of his responsibility for her fate when, at age 75 and afflicted with incurable cancer, she was kept alive by artificial means. Calling on his narrative skills and his observations as a reporter of medical procedures, he demonstrates with poignant examples how ignorance and indecision, abetted by life-prolonging technology, draw out the suffering of the terminally ill and inflict huge financial burdens on families and taxpayers.