How much longer can I expect to live? Can a physician truly answer this question? Prognosticating is one of the most challenging tasks clinicians face. It is often difficult to gauge a patient’s life expectancy, especially for patients without a dominant terminal illness like advanced dementia, cancer or congestive heart failure. In fact, clinicians typically make overly optimistic estimates of patient survival. Nowadays, clinicians are much less versed in discussing prognosis than treatment options.