Last night a patient died by what I can only describe as sheer will alone. She did have cancer, and a tumor debulking, but was otherwise *medically* stable at that point. After surgery, all she would say is that she wanted to die, to anyone that would listen.
A day later, she did.
We had another patient that was morbidly obese. He was in for intense management of leg ulcers - again, not unstable in the least. He also one day up and decided that he'd had enough and died a day or so later.
This fascinates me, it really does. Anyone else have similar stories?