How is time to death calculated in terminally I’ll patients?
In: 510
We guess.
We see a lot of people die so we can form estimates based on how long other people held on when they were at a similar stage.
For example, if someone near death stops eating, they likely have less than 2 weeks to live. If their skin is starting to mottle and they’re agonal breathing, then hours to days.
However, I’ve personally been wrong so many times that I’ve learned to not give direct estimates. I tell the patient “hours-to-days”, “days to weeks”, or “weeks to months” based on the stage of their disease and other signs they’re showing.
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