THE seemingly easiest and most sensible rule for a doctor to follow is: always fight. Always look for what more you could do. I am sympathetic to this rule. It gives us our best chance of avoiding the worst error of all – giving up on someone we could have helped.
However, it doesn’t take long to realise that the rule is neither viable nor humane. All doctors have patients they are unable to heal, or even to diagnose, no matter how hard they try.
I was walking down the hallway one day when Jeanne, one of the intensive care unit…
