The battle of being mortal is the battle to maintain the integrity of one's life.

The big thing that's happened is, in the time since the Affordable Care Act has been going on, our medical science has been advancing. We have now genomic data. We have the power of big data about what your living patterns are, what's happening in your body. Even your smartphone can collect data about your walking or your pulse or other things that could be incredibly meaningful in being able to predict whether you have disease coming in the future and help avert those problems.

Are doctors who make mistakes villains? No, because then we all are.

In one study, old people assigned to a geriatrics team stayed independent for far longer, and were admitted to the hospital less.

In every industrialized nation, the movement to reform health care has begun with stories about cruelty.

What about regular professionals, who just want to do what they do as well as they can?

This is the reality of intensive care: at any point, we are as apt to harm as we are to heal.