As opposed to the patient being clearly in their latest hours as a living being.

I remember listening to a podcast where they went to nursing homes and talking to nurses on how they can pretty accurately predict that a guest is not going to survive for more than a few hours or till the next week.

(Of course they explain how this is not very scientific and how sometimes they miss the mark. I forgot where it was, but I'm looking for that episode and going to post a link to it when I do find it.)