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Guest Essay

By Daniela J. Lamas

Dr. Lamas, a contributing Opinion writer, is a pulmonary and critical care physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

My patient’s wife glared at me from across his bed, where she stood flanked by a half-dozen friends. My patient, lying between us, was yellow with jaundice, his face gaunt, bruises on his arms from months in the intensive care unit. He was off sedation but remained comatose.

His wife paced the room as she talked, her tone pressured. She wanted to know what we were going to do next — surely, we would transfuse and restart........

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