In death, lessons for the living

Neurologist Farrah Daly (center) checks 74-year-old patient Alton Hlavin, who is suffering from an incurable disease called cortical basal degeneration, as his wife Martha looks on during a visit at their home in Vienna, Virginia, on Dec 10. The disease is similar to Parkinson's disease, which gradually attacks nerve cells, causing debilitating muscle pain and shrinking parts of the brain until the patient can no longer walk or talk. Nicholas Kamm / Agence France-Presse