Sometimes patients know best. "Doctors can't explain it, but every day in medicine there are people who know they are near death, no matter what the tests show."
Sometimes even cats know best. "A cat named Oscar lives in a nursing home in Providence, R.I., and seems to have an uncanny sense for when elderly residents are about to die."
And then there are all the times that people survive when “instinct” says that they will not.
The moral: don’t let utilitarians or the physician decide whether to give or withhold treatment. Leave it to the wife of 50 years.
Surprisingly, it is not that uncommon to find cats in hospice and assisted living residences that have an uncanny sense of understanding when a resident’s time to pass is near.