Wow ubiquitin, what an out-of-proportion response! You may disagree with him with every fiber of your being but attack mode over this? Seems a bit out of character for you. And both you and Sam seem, by your answers, to have totally missed the forest for the tree or two you misread.
I don’t get the impression you understood what he was saying but I do believe you would disagree with what I understood to be his point as well. I am just very surprised, with all your medical experience, that you disagree so strongly. As someone who is in the medical field, has worked in hospitals (rehab as well as acute) and has watched several family members die I can’t say I disagree with a single point of his. He was not speaking of the thoughts going thru each doctors mind, I believe he was talking about the source of the attitude and direction of healthcare.
One very telling lesson I learned was from some secular and non Jewish patients who told me they or their loved one would NEVER want to be on life support or disabled. They swore up and down they would rather be left to die as they firmly believe the garbage society has taught, that your life is only worth something if you are productive. Well oddly enough, when these very same people show up post stroke or debilitating disease/incident and can no longer take care of themselves and need tremendous care, they beg for life. They change their minds about being a DNR. They try to convince their family that they really DO want to remain alive no matter what condition they are in. Unfortunately their family sometimes writes off these requests as senility.
One of my favorite comments from a loving, caring, wonderful ICU nurse was, “Are you sure you want us to transfuse your father? There are so many young people who could put this blood to better use” (he was O-).