In the quiet corridors of French intensive care units, a survey of 743 hospital professionals has surfaced a profound moral dissonance: the doctors who manage dying are not dying the way they would choose. When asked to consider nine clinical scenarios involving life-sustaining treatment, ICU caregivers consistently said they would withdraw care for themselves more often than they perceive their colleagues withdrawing it for patients — prioritizing functional independence over mere survival. This gap between personal conviction and institutional practice raises one of medicine's oldest and mos