If end-of-life discussions were an experimental drug, the FDA would approve it. - Atul Gawande

the purpose of medical schooling was to teach how to save lives, not how to tend to their demise.

...what living things provide. In place of boredom, they offer spontaneity. In place of loneliness, they offer companionship. In place of helplessness, they offer a chance to take care of another being.

Why would a football fan let a few flubbed minutes at the end of the game ruin three hours of bliss? Because a football game is a story. And in stories, endings matter.