7. Thinking Clearly

At 46, M. has a problem list that one would expect at 86: heart failure, liver failure, diabetes, morbid obesity. So she takes seriously the living will that every hospital admit is encouraged to discuss. "If there is a problem with the surgery," she says, referring to a relatively simple excision of an ovarian cyst, "and I don't wake up, then just turn everything off. I don't want to be on all those machines if I'd wake up and not be able to think clearly. But if I'll still be able to think clearly then do everything you can." I like M. Dr. House wouldn't, but I do.

p.s., she did wake up, the cyst was benign, and her thinking is quite clear.