Businessweek: Lessons of a $680,000 death

Amanda Bennett and Charles Babcock write a very compelling story on Businessweek about Amanda's husband's death at age 67. It details his multiple struggles with a very aggressive cancer and their struggles to keep him alive. It also highlights the tension between wanting to live, or at least not die before one's time and the costs of heroic medicine. It's very well-written, not quite on par with Dr. Atul Gawande's famous (or infamous) story about McAllen, TX's excesses, but still very very good. No matter what your position on palliative versus heroic care, it's worth ploughing through its whole 6 pages.