She’s in her eighties and suffers from congestive heart failure and crippling arthritis, among other problems. She’s also been depressed off and on for many years. Her daughter, a good friend of ours, takes her to the weekly doctor’s appointment, this time after a hard night of pain and insomnia for her mom.

The 82-year old didn’t want to get out of bed that morning and pushed away any help. Yet she could barely crawl to the bathroom, dressed with great difficulty and had no interest in...