"Does telling someone that they are terminally ill mean telling the how long they have to live? (hard to know for any individual)," writes Dr. Leslie J. Blackhall, a palliative care specialist at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. "Does it mean telling them that they will eventually die (true for all of us)? Does it mean telling them there is 'nothing we can do' (never true)?" Blackhall writes. And at exactly what point in a protracted illness for which there is little prospect of a cure does a physician declare a patient "terminal," she wonder...