How Doctors Die

We all know we’re going to die, but we don’t want to talk about it—or plan for it. As a result, we take—and ask our healthcare providers to take—extraordinary measures to prolong our lives and those of our loved ones. Doctors, however, don’t take these same measures. Because they encounter death more often than most people, and because they know the quality of life that follows CPR, ventilators, and feeding tubes, physicians are better prepared than the rest of us to die in peace without a pointless fight. City of Hope Senior Research Specialist Shirley Otis-Green, Coalition for Compassionate Care of California Executive Director Judy Citko, and Dr. Ken Murray, author of “How Doctors Die” talk with San Jose Mercury News reporter Lisa Krieger about what doctors can teach us about a good death.