But I feel that was the main point at the start of the thread: if death is certain and going to be painful, why must we drag it out? Why is that additional lifespan (measured in days) so much more important than comfort?

Is it really worth trading away that opportunity just to not accidentally die on a ventilator? I'm not sure.

[1] https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2013/03/how-doctors-die/

I never wanted to go into medicine. Thus I do not believe the preferences of a typical older doctor represent my preferences in this respect.

I read an article once of a nurse who kept CPR going on her husband for somewhere around 2 hours until they could get him to a hospital that was able to restart his heart. I believe he ended up okay. CPR obviously isn't invasive tubing, but it's still kind of hard on the body.

If it's part of a long decay I would categorically refuse anything like that. If it's due to an abrupt and fixable thing give it a try.

> Yet families are often asked to make the call within 72 hours of someone sustaining a severe brain injury. Unless patients make a rapid recovery in the first few days, it's thought they are unlikely to survive or recover much at all.

> The data Sanders and colleagues analyzed tentatively suggest otherwise.

> The data revealed that 31 of the 56 brain trauma patients who stayed on life support died within six months; and 45 percent survived. Of the 25 patients who survived, more than 30 percent recovered enough in that same six-month period to have at least some independence in daily activities.

> Just four patients recovered 'fully' to how they functioned before their injury.

"some" is doing a lot of work in this sentence. Recovering enough to have "at least some" independence after several months is not a great outcome. That very likely means lifelong daily care is required.

And 7% of the study subjects recovered completely.