Allow a natural death.
I suppose I should preface this one with a disclaimer. These views are my own and do not reflect the organization I work for. My views and perspective are shaped by what is probably over 20 years in the hospital setting. The includes being a hospital volunteer, an ER Clerk , Med School, Residency and I'm completing my 9th year as an attending, a hospitalist. Since many of my patients look at me quizzically about what that means. It means I'm an internal medicine trained doctor practicing in the hospital setting taking care of acute admitted patients. So if someone has pneumonia, COPD , heart failure and they need to be in hospital, then I'm that rounding doctor. --------- From admission, one of the first things explored as part of a patient's history and care approach is code status or advanced directives. There are all kinds of ways to approach this and I've heard from mentors , family friends, why even ask? Shouldn't we do "everything?" Shouldn...