How do doctors determine the amount of time a terminally ill patient has left?
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In my experience, they often can’t very accurately. They have data about how long the average patient with X life limiting / terminal illness will live, and from experience they can look at your current symptoms and give a rough idea. But often they won’t commit to a timeline at all.
My mum died from cancer 7 years ago. She lived about 18 months from diagnosis. She was initially diagnosed with ovarian cancer which couldn’t all be removed – they told her it was not curable but couldn’t give a timeline because it depended on response to treatment. After treatment she went into remission for a while, but then it started growing again, almost 1 year after diagnosis.
She went to be screened for a study and they found the ovarian cancer was secondary (very unusual) to a rare form of stomach cancer which usually has a prognosis of around 6 months. It was past the point of surgery so she had more chemo.
She was doing really well until the cancer obstructed her bowel and she couldn’t eat because she couldn’t pass waste. At that point they knew roughly how long she could have be her we can only survive for so long without food. And even then, it was only about 48 hours before she died that they could say it would happen within the next few days.
Cancer is really nothing like what you see on TV, and giving very specific timeframes is very unusual and often incorrect. Often times are given based on organs starting to fail or bodily functions no longer working.
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