Patients seem to have an uncanny ability to predict when they’re going to die.

In an excellent NY Times piece, Sandeep Jauhar (who is among the best physician-writers on the web, along with the Washington Post’s Manoj Jain and The New Yorker’s Atul Gawande) talks about how patients have a “sixth sense” about their own deaths.

We are in an era where tests and diagnostic studies often replace the time spent listening to patients, but it should not be forgotten that a patient’s intuition holds vital clues to their prognosis.

“I have learned that the best instincts in medicine derive from the patients themselves,” writes Dr. Jauhar, adding that although “their intuitions about their own health may be denigrated by doctors . . . we must learn to pay attention to them.”