There are no clear answers here because the issues raise quality of life as well as legal concerns. As an intern, you're too busy learning technical skills and basic medicine to think too much about these ethical issues. The great majority of our patients do snap back from illness and go home. But in my years here I've seen the range of it. And I'm constantly impressed with the enormous resources Maryland brings to bear in the tough situations.
Social workers help parents.
When a child's going to be hospitalized for a long time, the Child Life teachers set up programs to ensure a consistent group of care givers, especially the same doctors and nurses. In three years, you'll stash away an encyclopedia's worth of knowledge, gathered in fragments and chunks through the incredible range of situations you'll encounter. Sometimes, even for a third year and the most senior person, any one of them can be particularly unnerving. But this program trains you to handle pretty much anything that happens.