. >> marcia klish is either being saved by medical technology or being prevented from dying a natural death. >> we're just here checking on you. >> she's been unconscious in the intensive care unit at dartmouth hitchcock medical center in lebanon, new hampshire, for the better part of a week. one of her doctors, ira byock, told us it costs up to $10,000 a day to maintain someone in the icu. >> this is the way so many americans die. something like 18% to 20% of americans spend their last days in an icu. and, you know, it's extremely expensive. it's uncomfortable. many times they have to be sedated so that they don't reflexively pull out a tube, or sometimes their hands are restrained. this is not the way most people would want to spend their last days of life. and yet this has become almost the medical last rites for, you know, people as they die. okay, let's go see her. >> dr. byock leads a team that treats and counsels patients with advanced illnesses. >> hello, there. >> he says modern medicine has become so good at keeping the terminally ill alive by treating complications of under