I'd imagine that as a doctor you would have grown accustomed to all of the varied pathways that terminal diseases and their treatments take. It would be inevitable to think through how you would view any given path should it be your own fate one day.

Someone who hasn't had a lifetime to grow accustomed to how, when, and why humans die is less likely to suddenly become accustomed to what a terminal illness means for them in the days following diagnosis and ahead of treatment. Particular to TFA's pancreatic cancer story, should I be diagnosed with it in a few years I'd imagine I'd want to stick it out for a while just because giving up would feel ... weird.