An Ideal Presence

Book excerpt: In 2015, Eduardo Berti spent several weeks in residence at the University Hospital Centre in Rouen, France, observing and conversing with the staff of its palliative care department. From that experience he created this series of lightly fictionalized testimonials from nurses, nursing aides, doctors, administrators, social workers, volunteers, and the other people who make the unit tick. The result is a distinctly intimate and often poignant portrait of sickness and care, an unflinching look at death through the eyes of the people who work with it every day - but also a profound reflection on what it means to be alive.