"The physician must be able to tell the antecedents, know the present, and foretell the future — must mediate these things, and have two special objects in view with regard to diseases, mainly, to do good or to do no harm." (quote from Hippocrates after the table of contents)

"It was standing room only in Room 3485 the day the committee voted to let Patrick die." (13)

"There's no right answer to this one."
"Is there ever?" (20)

"What the notes don't say and the nurses don't know is that Oria has decided that the doctors and nurses really are better parents to Patrick than she can ever be. They are more educated, more sophisticated, wealthier, and, most important, they can ease his pain and make him well when she cannot." (44)

"Pat, do you want to talk about dyin'?" she said to the tiny boy who was playing with Nintendo, refusing...