The patient and family are saying: The body comes first. I am what my body needs, and my body needs this medical expertise. Whatever I might need I can likely conjure myself. Or at least it can wait. This considerable focus on the body, the treatment of dying as primarily a physical reality, and the preoccupation with pain and symptom, all of it is carried on in broad daylight with the general willingness and compliance of everyone in the treatment stream, usually with the full support and encouragement of everyone who loves the one who is dying.
