receive morphine for air hunger. Alternatively, Martensen's father could have been put on a mechanical ventilator. However, that would have violated both Martensen and his father's wishes. Martensen explained that As the morphine began to act on Martensen's father, his anxiety from air hunger was lessening and he was still conscious. Martensen told his father he thought that life was slipping away, that he thought it was his time, that he loved him, and that was going to remove the oxygen; Martensen's father replied, "thank you." Education Martensen was educated at Harvard University (B.A., 1969), Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth (M.D., 1974), and the University of California, San Francisco (M.A. and Ph.D., 1993). See also Futile medical care References American emergency physicians Harvard University alumni Geisel School of Medicine alumni University of California, San Francisco alumni Bioethicists American historians 1947 births 2013 deaths American male non-fiction writers