Narrator: 
In the intensive care unit at Mount Sinai Hospital 
in New York City
A family gathers
Catalina Laura Murillo has been kept alive on a ventilator for the last five days
Doctor:
She's not doing well,
she's dying.
Very difficult, we know.
Narrator: 
With every major organ failing from end-stage liver disease
Her family is now faced with taking her off life support
Doctor: 
We have a decision to make
One of the decisions is whether we should take the tube from the mouth and take it out
Does he have thoughts about that?
Nurse: 
He said yes
Okay, so let me prepare you for what may happen
Doctor, narrating:
The ICU is at the apex of life and death
[We give a little bit of dose of the sedative
 to make sure she feels no pain]
We have a tremendous amount of technology that prolong life
But ultimately we can't overcome the patient's illness in most cases
They have cancer
They have kidney disease
They have end-stage liver disease
They have these diseases that are life-shortening
Now if you look at the history of critical care
The idea of an intensive care unit was for you to come there with a life-threatening illness
and respond to the treatment and get better
Unfortunately what's happened
is that Americans are now coming to ICUs to die
[Okay,]
[we're gonna take it out, okay?]
Today more Americans die in hospitals than anywhere else
often after prolonged illness and many medical interventions
What modern medicine is capable of doing is almost what 20 years ago was considered science fiction
Essentially you can support pretty much 
every body system
for years 
because you can keep their lungs breathing
and keep their heart beating
Keep their blood pressure up and keep their blood flowing
that suspended animation state goes on forever
and so, the decisions of the end of life have become much more complicated for everyone involved
