Continuous positive airway pressure

E.M. is placed on a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine. You know from

experience that patients are usually on CPAP for a couple of days before they are ready to be

taken off and continue to improve until they are ready for discharge. However, Mrs. M. is

very distressed and asks you, “When is my baby going to die?” When you tell her that the patient is very sick but not dying, she says emphatically, “You can tell me. When is my baby going to die?”