Reply #3: love those old school docs

[riverwalker]

I worked with one whose geriatric patients adored him and his plain talking. Younger doctors would ask patients "do you want extraordinary measures, Full Code, do you have a Living Will, blah blah"? And the older patients wouldn't know what they are talking about.
Dr. Old School would say "Irma, you are 87 years old. If your heart stops, do you want us to pound your chest and put tubes in your throat? Because it probably won't work anyway at your age. Do you want that?" Once they knew what they were talking about, they would always say, "No I don't want that, when the time comes, let me go."
The problem is, we tippy-toe around the subject.