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"Everything we could" [and more than we should]

I can't help but wonder if there was anyone with medical training acting as a patient advocate in this and similar situations.

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Doctors can undergo special training in 'palliative care'. These docs have a pretty broad spectrum in terms of when they become involved, but from my own experience they've been pretty good at being patient/family advocates to primary care teams. They should ideally get involved at the beginning of any chronic illness, to discuss goals of care regularly, and provide patients and families with resources for end of life care (e.g. hospice, home hospice, etc).

This is not the best explanation, but hopefully it brings you and other readers awareness of this growing specialty.

Palliative care is an incredible specialty. Something I wish more patients understood is that palliative care is not just end of life care. Their remit is the alleviation of symptoms and pain at any stage of a life limiting illness. In the UK many people consider palliative care to be synonymous with end of life care for cancer patients and are unwilling to be referred to them. This can lead to unnecessary suffering. Perhaps a re-brand is in order.. :/

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