Is it unreasonable to ask elderly people where they would prefer to die and how? Some individuals think so, judging by the adverse reaction to an initiative from NHS England A friend of mine who works for a GP practice is helping with a project run by NHS England to shift some of the care of the elderly – or rather, some of the administration – from hospitals to GPs. It involves asking old people about their well-being, their concerns, their care, all rather intimate stuff. A couple of the concluding questions are about death: would the patient like to die at home or in hospital; what about artificial resuscitation in the event of a stroke, or other immediately life-threatening event? Some people can be thrown by all this. One lady looked at the doctor who put the question to