So I took my dad to the hospital a couple times in his last year or so, and I think the main thing every patient needs but doesn’t necessarily have is someone to do the top-level coordination. There might be a surgeon and a hospitalist and a cardiologist and a neurologist and whoever, but no one is actually in charge. Most hospitalized patients mentally check out—humans don’t do well in captivity—so unless you have a family member advocating for you, you’re kind of fucked. Doctors come and go, but none of them take responsibility for the patient’s overall well-being.

It doesn’t require 24-hour shifts or even a medical degree to do this kind of coordination. I did it and I have no medical training whatsoever. But it was pretty important work, and my dad would have been lost without it.