1. The surprise question - would you be surprised if this patient died in the next year? This must have been dreamt up by someone who has never done any serious clinical work but is now so abused it is almost meaningless. The better question would be  whether one would be surprised if the patient will be still alive at the end of the year. Very relevant at Christmas - how do you address a Christmas card when you really expect one of the intended recipients to have died in the past year? The capacity for some folk to survive against the odds (and despite medical treatment) is humbling.

2. Post-code lottery - any regional variation in anything seems to earn this comment. We live in a rural area and should I have my coronary at home it will take any ambulance ages to find me. This is not a post-code lottery but a post code choice. Of course there should be certain core servicess , but local needs also need to given some priority - which will differ from place to place and are not (always) a lottery.

3. Saving lives - what on earth does it mean? Even having a secularist bias I can understand "saving souls" but saving lives seems to be used for any postponement of death for however short a time. And contributes to the present misconceptions about entitlement to immortality.