How Should Doctors Help Terminally Ill Patients Prepare for Death?

But over the past few weeks, the story of Brittany Maynard — a 29-year-old woman diagnosed with terminal brain cancer who has chosen to end her life on Nov. 1 rather than allow the disease to progress — has stirred a national conversation about death and dying in America, and shone a spotlight on the relationships doctors have with patients in the end stages of their lives.