> It belies the promise that we make to patients who become seriously ill: that they can count on the medical system to give them their very best chance at life

> It belies the promise that we make to patients who become seriously ill: that they can count on the medical system to give them their very best chance at life. Medicine makes no such promise. Doctors are going to handle any given condition with the currently accepted "reasonable and prudent" treatment. This is going to be appropriate for the vast majority of patients but it isn't necessarily everyone's "very best chance."