Those were very interesting articles, Oak, especially the one about "invoking hospice", as a way of achieving calm. It reminded me a little of when my son had to have a sudden minor operation. The hospital wanted him to spend the night afterwards, in a hot, noisy, shared room where he got no rest or sleep at all until I begged for us to be allowed to sleep in the waiting room, which was empty and quiet. I couldn't help thinking that hospital routines were great for the staff but pretty terrible for aiding a quick and natural recovery from minor stuff.

But I wondered about the first one. What kind of response were they expecting or hoping for? I'm a firm believer in modern medicine and will staunchly defend it in most situations, but there's only so much you can predict about how long a person has left, isn't there? It seems to me that only sensible response to "how long will you live" is exactly that - "I don't know."