Thaddeus Pope quotes this sentence from a 1988 letter to the editor of The New England Journal of Medicine.
It seems we have lost sight of the difference between patients who die because their hearts stop and patients whose hearts stop because they are dying.
Today we no longer stop to make that distinction.
Related posts:
Actions surrounding the moment of death are highly symbolic
Atul Gawande: Modern death and dying
Death be not visible
Links of interest: Funerals, cremations, wakes
Knowing when you’ll die: Tony Judt’s last interview
Health care: Reminding people of death triggers irrational emotions
The day Neda Soltan died: Inside an Iranian hospital
Resources:
Image: NJ.com
Thaddeus Pope, Poetic Medical Futility Quote, Medical Futility Blog, February 26, 2011
Correspondence, Decisions about CPR, The New England Journal of Medicine, May 12, 1988, Vol. 318, p. 1273 (subscription required)