How Doctors Die

A panel discussion looking at how doctors die. They see death all the time, and they can get all the medical care they want. Unlike the rest of us, though, they rarely choose to get extensive treatment. Instead, they tend to focus on staying comfortable, spending time with family, and putting their affairs in order. Ordinary patients, by contrast, tend to be over-treated, subjected to a host of last-minute measures that can be agonizing without being helpful, for no purpose other than to stave off death for a few more hours. Why do doctors die so differently from the rest of us? How can we begin to discuss death more openly? City of Hope Senior Research Specialist Shirley Otis-Green, Coalition for Compassionate Care of California Executive Director Judy Citko, and Dr. Ken Murray, author of "How Doctors Die," which was selected for the Best American Essays 2012, visit Zócalo to discuss how to give patients more choice in their final days. The panel moderator is Lisa M. Krieger of the San Jose Mercury News.

Watch the video of this discussion.

This podcast is made possible by a grant from the California Healthcare Foundation.